This document provides an introduction to Gnosticism and the Gnostic Bible. It discusses how Gnostics sought direct knowledge of God without religious officials as intermediaries. Heresiologists condemned Gnostics as heretical threats, but Gnostic theology also influenced mainstream Christian thought. Gnostics embraced wisdom from diverse sources and provided innovative interpretations of creation stories, distinguishing a transcendent deity from a flawed creator. They believed gnosis, or direct knowledge, allowed salvation by reconnecting with the divine light within.

3. THE
GNOSTIC
BIBLE
EDITED BY
Willis Barnstone
and Marvin Meyer
S H A M B H A L A
Boston & London
2003

4. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Horticultural Hall
300 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
www.shambhala.com
©2003 by Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Printed in the United States of America
© This edition is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American
National Standards Institute Z39.48 Standard.
Distributed in the United States by Random House, Inc.,
and in Canada by Random House of Canada Ltd
Interior design and composition: Greta D. Sibley & Associates
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The gnostic Bible/edited by Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 1-57062-242-6 (alk. paper)
1. Gnostic literature. I. Barnstone, Willis, 1927- II. Meyer, Marvin W.
BT1390.G4937 2003
299'.932 DC21
2003007148

5. CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IX
GNOSTICISM, GNOSTICS, AND THE GNOSTIC BIBLE
• Marvin Meyer l
LETTING IN THE LIGHT: TRANSLATING
HOLY TEXTS • Willis Barnstone 21
PART ONE
Early Wisdom Gospels 29
INTRODUCTION • Marvin Meyer 31
1. The Gospel of Thomas 43
2. The Gospel of John 70
PART TWO
Literature of Gnostic Wisdom 105
INTRODUCTION • Marvin Meyer 107
3. The Book of Baruch • Justin 119
SETHIAN LITERATURE
4. The Secret Book of John 135
5. The Reality of the Rulers 166
6. The Revelation of Adam 178
7. Three Forms of First Thought 189

6. CONTENTS
8. The Three Steles of Seth 201
9. The Vision of the Foreigner 212
10. The Sermon of Zostrianos 215
11. The Baptismal Ceremony of the
Gospel of the Egyptians 218
12. Thunder 224
13. The Letter of Peter to Philip 233
VALENTINIAN LITERATURE
14. The Gospel of Truth 239
15. The Gospel of Philip 257
16. The Letter to Flora • Ptolemy 299
17. Commentary on the Gospel of John • Herakleon 307
18. The Treatise on Resurrection 326
19. The Prayer of the Messenger Paul 332
20. Valentinian Liturgical Readings 335
21. The Secret Book of James 340
22. The Round Dance of the Cross 351
THOMAS AND OTHER SYRIAN LITERATURE
23. The Songs of Solomon 357
24. The Song of the Pearl 386
25. The Book of Thomas 395
ADDITIONAL LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
26. The Exegesis on the Soul 405
27. On the Origin of the World 414

7. CONTENTS VII
28. The Paraphrase of Shem 438
29. The Second Treatise of the Great Seth 465
30. The Gospel of Mary 477
31. The Naassene Sermon 482
PART THREE
Hermetic Literature 495
INTRODUCTION • Willis Barnstone 497
32. Poimandres 502
33. The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth 512
34. The Prayer of Thanksgiving 521
PART FOUR
Mandaean Literature 525
INTRODUCTION • NathanielDeutsch 527
35. The Ginza 536
36. Hibil's Lament from the Book of John 555
37. Songs from the Mandaean Liturgy 561
PART FIVE
Manichaean Literature 567
INTRODUCTION • PaulMirecki 569
38. On the Origin of His Body 581
39. The Story of the Death of Mani 593
40. Kephalaia 598
41. The Coptic Manichaean Songbook 616

8. VIII CONTENTS
42. Parthian Songs 639
43. The Great Song to Mani 647 '
PART SIX
Islamic Mystical Literature 655
INTRODUCTION • Marvin Meyer 657
44. The Mother of Books 665
PART SEVEN
Cathar Literature 727
INTRODUCTION • Willis Barnstone 729
45. The Gospel of the Secret Supper 740
46. The Book of the Two Principles 751
47. A Nun's Sermon 762
EPILOGUE: HISTORICAL MEDITATION ON THE
INNER LIGHT OF GNOSIS • Willis Barnstone 765
GLOSSARY 801
BIBLIOGRAPHY
FURTHER READING 821
SOURCES CITED 835
INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 849

9. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to acknowledge several people and organizations that have
helped in the production of this volume. For a number of years Chapman
University has given generous encouragement to the scholarly research of
Marvin Meyer on gnostic texts by providing sabbatical leaves and financial as­sistance,
and the work on this volume has been undertaken with the support
of the Griset Chair in Bible and Christian Studies at Chapman University.
Nathaniel Deutsch and Paul Mirecki have contributed insightful introduc­tions
to Mandaean and Manichaean literature in this volume, and Heather
Terjung has produced an English translation of the German version of the
Mother of Books. Linden Youngquist has provided essential computer expert­ise
for formatting the texts and preparing the bibliography. The editorial staff
of Shambhala Publications has taken on this large publishing project with
creativity and resourcefulness. Joel Segel has brought his editorial vision to the
creation of the book and has been a model of patience, persistence, and pro­fessionalism.
Kendra Crossen Burroughs and Dave O'Neal have seen the man­uscript
successfully through press. Lastly, we recognize our colleagues, friends,
and family members who have long endured our preoccupations and have
offered us, in many ways, insights into wisdom and gnosis.
Willis Barnstone
Marvin Meyer
IX

10. GNOSTICISM, GNOSTICS,
AND THE GNOSTIC BIBLE
MARVIN MEYER
Know what is in front of your face
and what is hidden from you
will be disclosed.
—Gospel of Thomas 5
I he gnostics were religious mystics who proclaimed gnosis, knowl-
• edge, as the way of salvation. To know oneself truly allowed gnos-
JL. tic men and women to know god1 directly, without any need for
the mediation of rabbis, priests, bishops, imams, or other religious officials.
1. Throughout the present volume we have tried to avoid unnecessary capitalization of the
word god and the names of personified spiritual powers and aeons. We are aware that the word
god may be used as a name for the divine, but it frequently functions as a general term for the
divine, so that even when "god" appears to be a name, it retains its primary nature as a term
signifying the concept of divinity. For the same reason, other names of divine expressions, such
as divine forethought, afterthought, and wisdom, are likewise left uncapitalized. Conversely, for
the sake of clarity, when the Greek word "Sophia" is used for wisdom, that is capitalized, as are
other names that are transliterated directly from other languages. We also want to avoid the
common practice of singling out a particular deity, for example, the Judeo-Christian-Islamic
deity, for the exclusive honor of the capitalized name "God," while other deities are relegated to
the status of mere "gods" and "goddesses." We do not wish to limit the divine by restricting
deity through name or selectivity. Traditionally the name and face of the divine are essentially
unknowable, and so it is in this volume.

11. 2 INTRODUCTION
Religious officials, who were not pleased with such freedom and independ­ence,
condemned the gnostics as heretical and a threat to the well-being and
good order of organized religion. Heresiologists—heresy hunters of a bygone
age who busied themselves exposing people judged dangerous to the Christ­ian
masses—fulminated against what they maintained was the falsehood of
the gnostics. Nonetheless, from the challenge of this perceived threat came
much of the theological reflection that has characterized the intellectual his­tory
of the Christian church.
The historical roots of the gnostics reach back into the time of the Greeks,
Romans, and Second Temple Jews. Some gnostics were Jewish, others Greco-
Roman, and many were Christian. There were Mandaean gnostics from Iraq
and Iran; Manichaeans from Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and all
the way to China; Islamic gnostics in the Muslim world; and Cathars in west­ern
Europe. The heyday of their influence extends from the second century CE
through the next several centuries. Their influence and their presence, some
say, continue to the present day.
Gnostics sought knowledge and wisdom from many different sources,
and they accepted insight wherever it could be found. Like those who came
before them, they embraced a personified wisdom, Sophia, understood vari­ously
and taken as the manifestation of divine insight. To gain knowledge of
the deep things of god, gnostics read and studied diverse religious and philo­sophical
texts. In addition to Jewish sacred literature, Christian documents,
and Greco-Roman religious and philosophical texts, gnostics studied reli­gious
works from the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Zoroastrians, Muslims, and
Buddhists. All such sacred texts disclosed truths, and all were to be celebrated
for their wisdom.
Gnostics loved to explore who they were and from where they had come,
and hence they read creation stories such as the opening chapters of Genesis
with vigor and enthusiasm. Like others, they recognized that creation stories
not only claim to describe what was, once upon a time, but also suggest what
is, now, in our own world. The gnostics carried to their reading a conviction
that the story of creation was not a happy one. There is, they reasoned,
something fundamentally wrong with the world, there is too much evil and
pain and death in the world, and so there must have been something wrong
with creation.
Consequently, gnostics provided innovative and oftentimes disturbing in­terpretations
of the creation stories they read. They concluded that a distinc­tion,
often a dualistic distinction, must be made between the transcendent,

12. INTRODUCTION 3
spiritual deity, who is surrounded by aeons and is all wisdom and light, and
the creator of the world, who is at best incompetent and at worst malevolent.
Yet through everything, they maintained, a spark of transcendent knowledge,
wisdom, and light persists within people who are in the know. The transcen­dent
deity is the source of that enlightened life and light. The meaning of the
creation drama, when properly understood, is that human beings—gnostics
in particular—derive their knowledge and light from the transcendent god,
but through the mean-spirited actions of the demiurge, the creator of the
world, they have been confined within this world. (The platonic aspects of this
imagery are apparent.) Humans in this world are imprisoned, asleep,
drunken, fallen, ignorant. They need to find themselves—to be freed, awak­ened,
made sober, raised, and enlightened. In other words, they need to return
to gnosis.
This distinction between a transcendent god and the creator of the world
is all the more remarkable when it is recalled that many of the earliest gnostic
thinkers who made such a distinction seem to have been Jews. What might
have led them to such a conclusion that seems to fly in the face of Jewish
monotheistic affirmations? Could it have been the experience of the political
and social trauma of the time, culminating in the destruction of the Second
Temple in 70 CE, which prompted serious reflection upon the problem of evil
and stimulated the production of Jewish apocalyptic compositions? Could it
have been the reflection of hellenistic Jewish thinkers who were schooled in
Judaica and Greek philosophy and recognized the deep philosophical and the­ological
issues surrounding the transcendence of the high god and the need
for cosmic intermediaries to be involved with this world? Could it have been
that among the creative Jewish minds, representative of the rich diversity of
Judaism during the first centuries before and of the Common Era, who boldly
addressed the real challenges of Jewish mysticism before Kabbalah, of the wis­dom
and Hokhmah of god, of world-wrenching apocalyptic, of theodicy and
evil in the world, there were those who finally drew gnostic conclusions? We
know the names of some of these creative Jewish people: John the baptizer,
who initiated Jesus of Nazareth and preached apocalyptic ideas in the vicinity
of Qumran, where Covenanters and Essenes practiced their separatist, ethical
dualism; Simon Magus and Dositheos, who lived about the same time as Jesus
and advocated their ideas in Samaria and beyond; Philo of Alexandria, a hel­lenistic
Jewish thinker who provided Greek philosophical perspectives on the
Hebrew Bible; Rabbi Elisha ben Abuya, nicknamed Aher, "Other," who dabbled
in dualism; and there were more. We shall encounter some of these Jewish

13. 4 INTRODUCTION
thinkers in this volume. John the baptizer becomes the gnostic hero of the Man-daeans,
Jesus of the Christian gnostics. Simon Magus may lurk in the back­ground
of several gnostic texts, and Dositheos is said to be the compiler of the
Three Steles of Seth. Others, mostly unnamed, may have made similar contri­butions
to the discussion of the profound question of the transcendent god
and the demiurge.
The role of the gnostic savior or revealer is to awaken people who are under
the spell of the demiurge—not, as in the case of the Christ of the emerging or­thodox
church, to die for the salvation of people, to be a sacrifice for sins, or to
rise from the dead on Easter. The gnostic revealer discloses knowledge that
frees and awakens people, and that helps them recall who they are. When en­lightened,
gnostics can live a life appropriate for those who know themselves
and god. They can return back to the beginning, when they were one with god.
Such a life transcends what is mundane and mortal in this world and experi­ences
the bliss of oneness with the divine. As the divine forethought, or Christ,
in the Secret Book of John says to a person—every person—in the pit of the
underworld, "I am the forethought of pure light, I am the thought of the vir­gin
spirit, who raises you to a place of honor. Arise, remember that you have
heard, and trace your root, which is I, the compassionate."
Gnostic literature includes a typical cast of spiritual or mythological fig­ures
and realms, but they are referred to by different names.
Above and beyond all is the transcendent deity. In the Book of Baruch this
deity is called the Good and is identified with the fertility god Priapos. In the
Secret Book of John and elsewhere this deity is called the One, or monad, as
well as the invisible spirit, virgin spirit, and father. It is said that the One
should not be confused with a god, since it is greater than a god. Elsewhere the
transcendent is called the boundless, depth, majesty, light. Poimandres reveals
itself as the light, mind, first god. Mandaeans call this deity the great life and
lord of greatness, Manichaeans the father of greatness, Muslim mystics the ex­alted
king, Cathars the invisible father, true god, good god.
The glory of the transcendent is made manifest in a heavenly world of
light. In the classic literature of gnostic wisdom this exalted world is often
called the pleroma or fullness of god, and the inhabitants of this world are
called aeons or eternal realms. The first of the aeons is usually the divine
mother. For Simon Magus she is Helena, or ennoia, the thought of god. In the
Secret Book of John she is Barbelo, or pronoia, the first thought or forethought
of god. Thunder, in the text by that name, has certain similarities as well.
Sometimes the transcendent father and the divine mother produce a child in

14. INTRODUCTION 5
spiritual love. Often the aeons are identified as spiritual attributes of the di­vine,
are given names, and are joined together as couples, spiritual lovers
in the fullness of the divine. In the Mandaean divine world the great life is
surrounded by other lives and a host of Jordans, or heavenly waters; in the
Manichaean kingdom of light the father of greatness is surrounded by 12
aeons and 144 aeons of aeons; and in the Mother of Books the exalted king is
surrounded by seas, angels, lights, and colors.
Among the aeons and manifestations of the divine is often a figure who
represents the divine in this world, fallen from the light above yet present as
the light of god with us and in us. In many gnostic texts this is the figure called
Sophia or wisdom, as mentioned above. In Valentinian traditions two forms
of wisdom are evident, a higher wisdom called Sophia and a lower wisdom
called Achamoth. Wisdom is closely linked to Eve in the creation stories, and
Eve is portrayed as the mother of the living and a revealer of knowledge. Wis­dom
may also be linked to the gnostic revealer, and wisdom may take part in
the process of salvation. In the Gospel of John and other texts the divine logos,
or word, plays a similar role. Such is also the case with Ruha, the spirit, in
Mandaean texts, and perhaps Salman, including great Salman and lesser
Salman, in the Islamic Mother of Books.
As noted, the demiurge or creator of this world is commonly distinguished
from the transcendent deity in gnostic texts. The demiurge is ignorant, tragic,
megalomaniacal. In the Secret Book of John he is depicted as the ugly child of
Sophia, snakelike in appearance, with the face of a lion and eyes flashing like
bolts of lightning. He is named Yaldabaoth, Sakla, Samael, and he is the chief
archon and an arrogant, jealous god. In the Gospel of Truth error behaves like
the demiurge, for it becomes strong and works in the world, but erroneously.
Similar, too, are the actions of nature in the Paraphrase of Shem, Ptahil in
Mandaean literature, the five evil archons in Manichaean literature, Azazi'il
in the Mother of Books, and Lucifer or Satan among the Cathars.
The gnostic revealer awakens people who are under the spell of the demi­urge.
Within a Jewish context the gnostic revealer is Seth, the child of Adam
and Eve, or Derdekeas, probably Aramaic for "male child," or the first thought
or the afterthought or the wisdom of the divine. Within a Christian context
the revealer is Jesus the anointed, within a Manichaean context Jesus of light,
as well as others. More abstractly, the call to revelation and knowledge—the
wake-up call—is a winged divine messenger in the Song of the Pearl, instruc­tion
of mind in Hermetic literature, and enlightened Manda dHayye, knowl­edge
of life, in Mandaean literature. In other words, the call to knowledge is

15. 6 INTRODUCTION
the dawning of awareness, from within and without, of "what is, what was,
and what is to come." It is insight. It is gnosis.
In gnostic literature those who come to knowledge are described in differ­ent
ways. Occasionally they are specifically called gnostics; the Mandaeans
are also called by the word that means "gnostics" in Mandaic. More often they
are named the unshakable race, or the seed or offspring of Seth, or the gener­ation
without a king, or the elect or chosen, or, in the Mother of Books, the
ones who know. With a mystical flourish the Gospel of Philip recommends
that rather than be called a Christian, a person with knowledge might be un­derstood
to be at one with the gnostic revealer and be called Christ. This re­calls
the Gospel of Thomas, saying 108, where Jesus says, "Whoever drinks
from my mouth will become like me. I myself shall become that person, and
the hidden things will be revealed to that one." Such people of knowledge
know how to live profoundly and well in the truth and light of god. The
Gospel of Truth concludes, "It is they who manifest themselves truly, since
they are in that true and eternal life and speak of the perfect light filled with
the seed of the father, which is in his heart and in the fullness, while his spirit
rejoices in it and glorifies him in whom it was, because the father is good.
And his children are perfect and worthy of his name, because he is the father.
Children of this kind are those whom he loves."
The sacred texts presented in this volume all help to clarify what gnosticism is
and who the gnostics were. The similarities and differences among these texts
are equally instructive, as are the connections among them, whether historical
or phenomenological. The early "wisdom gospels" of Thomas and John, both
perhaps dating from the first century CE, portray Jesus as a speaker of wise
words or even as the divine word itself, which is itself "wisdom." These early
wisdom gospels represent incipient gnostic perspectives, and they were used
extensively by later gnostics, so that their impact upon the history of gnosti­cism
was huge. The classic literature of gnostic wisdom dates from the second
century CE, and some materials in the literature are probably even older. Justin's
Book of Baruch illustrates a Jewish form of gnosticism with Greco-Roman
allusions. So does Sethian gnostic literature, with its provocative Jewish inter­pretation
of the opening chapters of Genesis and its emphasis on the special
roles of Eve, the mother of the living, and Seth, whom the Sethian gnostics
claimed as ancestor. Valentinian gnostic literature is named after the great second-century
teacher Valentinos, who, along with his students, seems to have made
use of Sethian insights in order to fashion an elegant gnostic system for

16. INTRODUCTION 7
reflecting upon the origin and destiny of true life and light. In Syria, the sacred
literature relating to Thomas is closely related to the wisdom gospel of Thomas;
Thomas is understood to be the twin of Jesus and the guarantor of his wisdom
and knowledge.
The Hermetic literature dates from the first century CE and after. It is
named after the Greek god Hermes, the divine messenger, nicknamed Tris-megistos,
"thrice-greatest," and depicted in a syncretistic way, once again with
Jewish and Greco-Roman themes, along with Egyptian motifs. The Man-daeans
consist of Middle Eastern gnostic communities that exist to the pres­ent
day, now in locales around the world. The Mandaeans interpret the
opening chapters of Genesis in a typically gnostic manner, but they reserve a
special place for John the baptizer, whose style of Jewish baptismal piety they
considered to reflect the origin of their communities. Manichaean literature
dates from the time of the prophet Mani, the third-century prophet who, with
his followers, created a world religion intended to be universal. Manichaeism
draws from Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Christian sources, likely including the
Gospel of Thomas and other gnostic texts, in order to announce how the di­vine
light of the cosmos may be saved from the machinations of the forces of
darkness and gathered into the kingdom of light. Some of the songs in the
Coptic Manichaean Songbook appear to be related to Mandaean literature,
and Manichaeism and Mandaeism show connections with each other.
Such Islamic mystical texts as the Mother of Books, as well as Cathar
sacred literature, are sometimes described by scholars as late gnostic or neo-manichaean,
because of similarities with the traditions of Mani and his fol­lowers.
The Mother of Books comes from the eighth century CE and represents
a form of Islamic ghuluw, which literally means "exaggeration." The Cathar
texts come from medieval Europe and offer a dualistic message of the triumph
of light over darkness. The Cathars, too, like so many gnostics, venerated the
Gospel of John. The Gospel of the Secret Supper features John and cites a por­tion
of the Gospel of John as it announces the glory that will finally come to the
children of the good god of light: "The just will glow like a sun in the kingdom
of the invisible father. And the son of god will take them before the throne of
the invisible father and say to them, 'Here I am with my children whom you
have given me. Just father, the world has not known you, but I have truly
known you, because it is you who have sent me on my mission.'"
In assembling a "Gnostic Bible," what definitions have we used? Where have
we drawn the line? Let us examine our definitions more carefully.

17. 8 INTRODUCTION
The term gnostic is derived from the ancient Greek word gnosis, "knowl­edge."
Gnosis is a common word in Greek, and it can designate different types
of knowledge. Sometimes, as in the sacred texts included in this volume, gno­sis
means personal or mystical knowledge. Understood in this way, gnosis
may mean acquaintance, that is, knowledge as personal awareness of oneself
or another person or even god, or it may mean insight, that is, knowledge as
immediate awareness of deep truths. These ways of understanding gnosis are
not mutually exclusive, for knowledge may entail the immediate awareness
of oneself or of another, in a personal union or communion that provides
profound insight into the true nature of everything. As we have already
noted, the Gospel of Thomas has Jesus articulate just such a mystical per­sonal
knowledge.
The gnosis sought by the authors of these texts is hardly ordinary knowl­edge.
A text from the Nag Hammadi library, the Exegesis on the Soul (included
in this volume), declares that the restoration of the soul to a state of wholeness
"is not due to rote phrases or to professional skills or to book learning." Indeed,
mystics commonly have emphasized, in many books, that mystical knowledge
cannot be attained simply by reading books. Other texts describe this sort of
gnosis by listing questions that need to be addressed if one is to be enlightened
by knowledge. In the Secret Book of John the savior or revealer announces that
she or he will teach "what is, what was, and what is to come," and in the Book
of Thomas the revealer commands, "Examine yourself and understand who
you are, how you exist, and how you will come to be." To attain this knowl­edge—
to become a gnostic—is to know oneself, god, and everything. Or, in the
words of the maxim from the ancient oracular center dedicated to Apollo at
Delphi, Greece, a maxim cited frequently in the texts in this volume: gnothi
sauton, "know yourself." According to many of these sacred texts, to know one­self
truly is to attain this mystical knowledge, and to attain this mystical knowl­edge
is to know oneself truly. Gnostic knowledge, then, relies on lived mystical
experience, on knowledge of the whole timeline of the world, past, present, and
future, and on knowledge of the self—where we have come from, who we are,
where we are going—and of the soul's journey.
Thus, the Greek word gnosis was used extensively by people in the world of
Mediterranean antiquity, including the people who wrote the texts in this vol­ume,
but among the heresiologists the word was employed in a particularly
polemical fashion. The heresiologists were heresy hunters who, as the
guardians of truth and watchmen on the walls of Zion, were trying to expose
people judged to be dangerous to the masses, especially the Christian masses.

18. INTRODUCTION 9
The more famous of the heresiologists include Irenaeus of Lyon, whose major
work was Adversus haereses, "Against Heresies"; Hippolytus of Rome, who
wrote Refutatio omnium haeresium, "Refutation of All Heresies"; Pseudo-
Tertullian (an author writing under the name of Tertullian), who wrote Ad­versus
omnes haereses, "Against All Heresies"; and Epiphanius of Salamis, who
authored a particularly nasty piece entitled Panarion, "Medicine Chest," with
an orthodox remedy for every heretical malady. The neoplatonist philosopher
Plotinos of Lykopolis also wrote a heresiological treatise, Against the Gnostics,
according to his student Porphyry. All these heresiologists focused, to one ex­tent
or another, upon the supposed gnosis of the heretics, and they suggested
that at least some—even if only a few—of the heretics could be called gnos-tikoi,
gnostics, or referred to themselves as gnostikoi. While these heretics used
the word gnosis, they did not necessarily call themselves gnostics. Irenaeus
wrote five volumes against heresies, and he claimed to have composed an "ex­pose
and refutation of falsely so-called knowledge." Irenaeus and his fellow
heresiologists, motivated by a religious zeal to expose and refute people with
whom they disagreed, were rather sloppy and imprecise in their use of terms
and their enumeration of heresies. Yet their presentations of gnosis, "falsely
so-called gnosis," have played a role, albeit a polemical one, in defining the
terms gnosis, gnostic, and gnosticism in modern discussions.
The widespread use of the word gnosis (and similar words in other lan­guages,
for example, in Coptic and Latin), and the polemical application of
this word and related words among the heresiologists, have created a challenge
for scholars and students who wish to understand gnosticism. What is gnosti­cism,
the religion of gnosis? Gnosis is a word widely attested in the ancient
world, but the word gnosticism itself is a term not attested at all in antiquity or
late antiquity. Rather, it first was used in the eighteenth century to designate
the heretical religious groups discussed by the heresiologists. Are gnosticism
and gnosis valid categories for analysis? Who actually were the gnostics? These
questions have become even more interesting when scholars have reflected
upon gnosticism and gnosis in relation to hermetic, Mandaean, Manichaean,
Shi'ite, and Cathar religions. Further, the discovery and publication in recent
times of primary texts (as opposed to the secondary texts of the heresiolo­gists)
generally considered to be gnostic has raised the issues of definition and
taxonomy in new and exciting ways. Among these primary texts are those
from the Askew Codex (Pistis Sophia, or Faith Wisdom), the Bruce Codex, the
Berlin Gnostic Codex 8502, and the Nag Hammadi library. The Nag Hammadi
library is a treasure trove of Coptic texts, most previously unknown and many
i

19. 10 INTRODUCTION
considered gnostic by scholars. The texts in the Nag Hammadi library were
discovered around December 1945 near Nag Hammadi in upper Egypt, and
they are now becoming available in editions and translations. A substantial
number of texts in the present volume are from the Nag Hammadi library.
Scholars of ancient and late antique religions have attempted to sort
through the issues of definition and taxonomy in order to reach some clarity
regarding gnosis and gnosticism. In 1966 many of the leading scholars of gno­sis
gathered at an international conference in Messina, Italy, and produced a
set of statements that are meant to define gnosis and gnosticism. Gnosis, they
maintain, is "knowledge of the divine mysteries reserved for an elite," and this
is a term of very broad application. On the other hand, gnosticism is "a coher­ent
series of characteristics that can be summarized in the idea of a divine
spark in man, deriving from the divine realm, fallen into this world of fate,
birth and death, and needing to be awakened by the divine counterpart of the
self in order to be finally reintegrated."2 Gnosticism is thus a religious move­ment
represented by religious groups that emerged in the second century CE
and after, especially within the context of Christianity, groups such as the fol­lowers
of Basilides and Valentinos, two particularly significant early Christian
teachers of gnostic religion.
This distinction between gnosis and gnosticism resembles that of Hans Jonas
in his books The Gnostic Religion and Gnosis und spatantiker Geist, in which he
distinguishes between the gnostic principle—"the spirit of late antiquity"—
and the gnostic movement or movements. The gnostic religion, Jonas sug­gests,
is a religion of knowledge, with "a certain conception of the world, of
man's alienness within it, and of the transmundane nature of the godhead."3
This knowledge is communicated creatively in myths, which contain themes
borrowed freely from other religious traditions and which employ an elabo­rate
series of symbols. The end result, according to Jonas, is the expression of
religious dualism, dislocation, alienation—"the existing rift between God and
world, world and man, spirit and flesh."4 Whereas Valentinian gnostics (and
others) seek to derive dualism from a primordial oneness, Manichaean gnos­tics
begin with a dualism of two opposing principles. But both options remain
dualistic.5 For Jonas, these expressions of gnostic dualism can be articulated
2. Bianchi, ed., Le origini dello gnosticismo, p. xxvi. On the history of the discussion of gnosti­cism,
see King, What Is Gnosticism?
3. Jonas, Gnostic Religion, p. 101.
4. Ibid., p. 237.
5. Today scholars are arguing about whether or not the Manichaeans were truly gnostics, as
Jonas affirmed.

20. INTRODUCTION 11
in terms of modern philosophical existentialism. The gnostic drama high­lights
the self-experience of a person as Geworfenheit, "thrownness," aban­donment
of self in the world. As the Secret Book of John and other texts
describe it, one is thrown into this world, into a body, into the darkness. Yet,
Jonas states, "There is no overlooking one cardinal difference between the
gnostic and the existentialist dualism: Gnostic man is thrown into an antago­nistic,
anti-divine and therefore anti-human nature, modern man into an in­different
one. Only the latter case represents the absolute vacuum, the really
bottomless pit."6 Ancient gnostics and modern existentialists may both be ni­hilistic,
but we modern folks, in our post-Christian world, face the more pro­found
abyss: the uncaring abyss. For gnostics, there is light in the darkness and
hope in the abyss.
More recently scholars have questioned these ways of describing and
defining gnosis and gnosticism. Here we shall consider three significant at­tempts
to shed new light on the gnostic debate, those by Elaine Pagels, Bentley
Layton, and Michael Williams.
1. In The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels admits that Jonas's book The Gnos­tic
Religion remains "the classic introduction," but in her own book Pagels de­picts
gnostics in a different way.7 She reads the gnostic gospels and draws
conclusions about social and political concerns that motivated the gnostics.
Thus, for Pagels, the gnostics formulated teachings on the spiritual resurrec­tion
of Christ that subverted the emerging orthodox church's hierarchy of
priests and bishops, whose authority was—and still is—linked to the messen­gers
or apostles who were witnesses of the bodily resurrection of Christ. The
gnostic teaching on spiritual resurrection and spiritual authority, Pagels ob­serves,
"claimed to offer to every initiate direct access to God of which the
priests and bishops themselves might be ignorant."8 Again, Pagels notes that
the gnostics formulated teachings on the multiple manifestations of god, the
mother and the father, that subverted the emerging orthodox church's com­mitment—
which still can be found—to the authority of one bishop, and a
male bishop at that. In these and other ways, as Adolf von Harnack once said
and Pagels also recalls, the gnostics may have been the "first Christian theolo­gians,"
whose ideas and actions stimulated theological thinking in the Christ­ian
church. In Pagels's view, the gnostics lived as freethinking advocates of a
6. Ibid., p. 338.
7. Pagels, Gnostic Gospels, p. xxxi.
8. Ibid., p. 27.

21. 12 INTRODUCTION
mystical spirituality, and they talked a different talk and walked a different
walk than the emerging orthodox church. To many readers of Pagels's book
the gnostics seemed to advocate a more attractive sort of spirituality than that
of the orthodox priests, bishops, and heresiologists, and they seemed to be on
the right side of many issues that remain important issues to the present day.
Pagels was accused by some reviewers of portraying the gnostics in too attrac­tive
a fashion. Nonetheless, The Gnostic Gospels offers a compelling portrayal
of the gnostics as freethinking mystics who recommended a direct experience
of god, unmediated by church hierarchy.
2. In The Gnostic Scriptures, Bentley Layton assembles an anthology of
gnostic texts in English translations as authoritative gnostic scriptures. The
title of Layton's book is close to the title of our volume, and the conception is
similar, though more limited in scope. Like the scholars assembled at Messina,
and like Hans Jonas, Layton distinguishes between two meanings of the word
gnostic: "One is a broad meaning, denoting all the religious movements repre­sented
in this book, and many more besides. The elusive category ('gnosti­cism')
that corresponds to this broad meaning has always been hard to define.
The other meaning of'gnostic' is narrow and more strictly historical: it is the
self-given name of an ancient Christian sect, the gnostikoi, or 'gnostics.' "9 Lay-ton
points out, as we have noted, that the words gnostikos, "gnostic," and gnos­tikoi,
"gnostics," were uncommon in the world of antiquity and late antiquity,
and that the Christian sect that called itself the gnostics has been nicknamed
the Sethians, or else the Barbeloites, Barbelognostics, Ophians, or Ophites, by
ancient heresiologists and modern scholars. These gnostics form the founda­tion
for Layton's anthology, and Part One of his book, "Classic Gnostic Scrip­tures,"
is devoted to gnostic works in this limited sense of the word. The
subsequent parts of his book have additional texts—texts written by Valen-tinians,
by the followers of Judas Thomas, and by proponents of the systems
of Basilides and Hermetic religion.
Michael Williams, in his book Rethinking "Gnosticism" (discussed next), ap­plauds
Layton's efforts to be as exact as possible in his use of terms, but he points
out that the Coptic primary texts classified by Layton as classic gnostic scripture
do not refer to themselves as gnostic and are not indisputably gnostic. The term
gnostic is not used in so simple a way as Layton maintains, Williams continues;
for example, Irenaeus says that the followers of a woman named Marcellina
9. Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, p. 5.

22. INTRODUCTION 13
called themselves gnostics, but Layton does not include them anywhere in his
anthology. Yet, in spite of Williams's protestations—and with his grudging ac­knowledgment—
it must be admitted that Layton has convincingly demon­strated
the connections among a variety of texts that are gnostic. In the present
volume we too shall feature these classic or Sethian gnostic texts prominently in
Part Two of our book, "Literature of Gnostic Wisdom."
3. In Rethinking "Gnosticism," Michael Williams is more negative is his as­sessment
of the word gnosticism. He argues for "dismantling a dubious cate­gory,"
the dubious category being gnosticism itself. Williams begins by giving
his own definition of gnosticism: "What is today usually called ancient 'gnos­ticism'
includes a variegated assortment of religious movements that are at­tested
in the Roman Empire at least as early as the second century CE." 10 While
he casts his net widely in his discussion of this set of religious movements,
Williams does not include Hermetic, Mandaean, Manichaean, and later reli­gions
in his discussion. He does survey the use of the terms gnosis and gnostic
in both the heresiological sources and the primary gnostic texts, and he finds
that rarely do gnostics seem to have described themselves as such, and the oc­casional
use of the term gnostic among the heresiologists is uneven, ambigu­ous,
and contradictory. Further, the effort on the part of scholars to employ
gnosticism as a typological category has also failed. Scholars have proposed,
variously, that gnosticism was an anticosmic protest movement, or an inno­vative
religion of adoption and adaptation of other religious traditions, or a
religion of spiritualists who hated the body, or of ethical radicals who opted
for either an ascetic or a bohemian lifestyle, and so on. Williams judges that
these descriptions of gnosticism are caricatures of a diverse set of religious
movements—misguided efforts to define a single, overarching category called
gnosticism. Instead, Williams proposes that we jettison the category gnosti­cism
altogether and focus our attention on specific religious movements, for
instance, the Valentinians.
In addition, Williams suggests a new category to replace gnosticism:
I would suggest the category "biblical demiurgical traditions" as
one useful alternative. By "demiurgical" traditions I mean all
those that ascribe the creation and management of the cosmos to
some lower entity or entities, distinct from the highest God. This
10. Williams, Rethinking "Gnosticism," p. 3.

23. 14 INTRODUCTION
would include most of ancient Platonism, of course. But if we
add the adjective "biblical," to denote "demiurgical" traditions
that also incorporate or adapt traditions from Jewish or Christ­ian
Scripture, the category is narrowed significantly. In fact, the
category "biblical demiurgical" would include a large percentage
of the sources that today are usually called "gnostic," since the
distinction between the creator(s) of the cosmos and the true God
is normally identified as a common feature of gnosticism."11
Rethinking "Gnosticism" is one of the more thought-provoking books to
have appeared in the past several years on the topic of the definition of gnosis
and gnosticism. In spite of Williams's argument, however, in this volume we
shall continue to use the term gnostic. We do so for three reasons.
First, Williams concedes, as we have seen above, that Bentley Layton has
brought some clarity to the discussion of what is gnostic, and he acknowl­edges
with Layton that there are in fact connections among gnostic texts. The
savvy of scholars from the time of the Messina colloquium and Hans Jonas to
the present day is vindicated in the continual use of the terms gnosis, gnosti­cism,
and gnostic, though now with important qualifications. We too shall
continue to make use of these terms.
Second, Williams stresses the widespread diversity within the category
gnosticism, and of course he is correct in doing so. Yet his recognition of gnos­tic
diversity merely parallels the similar recognition by scholars of diversity in
Judaism and Christianity. This recognition of diversity has led Jacob Neusner
to suggest "Judaisms" and Jonathan Z. Smith "Christianities" as appropriate
terms for these diverse religious movements. Perhaps we might also opt for
"gnosticisms" or "gnostic religions" as a similar way of acknowledging the dif­ferences
among religions of gnosis.
Third, we continue to use the terms gnosis, gnosticism, and gnostic with a
particular understanding of comparison and classification. In Drudgery Di­vine,
Jonathan Z. Smith reminds us that comparisons do not necessarily tell us
how things actually are as much as they tell us about the people doing the
comparisons and their assumptions and perspectives. Smith notes that state­ments
of comparison are triadic, with an implicit "more than" and an addi­tional
"with respect to." Thus, A resembles B more than C with respect to N.
11. Ibid., pp. 51-52.

24. INTRODUCTION 15
Seen in this light, statements of comparison are always relative and contextual.
This understanding of comparison and classification may be helpful to us in
our current discussion of what is gnostic.
Contrary to those who doubt whether there is any set of traits (N) that
allow us to compare and classify religions of gnosis as gnostic, in this volume
we wish to suggest a set of gnostic traits that in fact may be helpful in com­paring
and classifying texts and traditions.
To do this, we begin by building on the observation that, according to Ire-naeus
of Lyon, the people we here refer to as Sethians defined and described
themselves as gnostics. Here is the historical basis for the use of gnostic as a
valid term of self-definition.
Next we continue to explore who the gnostics were by identifying traits
that were characteristic of these Sethians who called themselves gnostics. Ire-naeus
helps us by citing sacred materials that were used by Sethian gnostics,
and it turns out that these materials are remarkably similar to the classic
Sethian text entitled the Secret Book of John, presented prominently below.
Through a careful examination of the Secret Book of John we identify five
traits that we suggest are central to this gnostic text and that guide us in un­derstanding
Sethian gnostics. The Secret Book of John proclaims the impor­tance
of (1) gnosis, or mystical knowledge, (2) understood through themes of
wisdom and (3) presented in creations stories, particularly in Genesis, and (4)
interpreted through a variety of religious and philosophical traditions, in­cluding
platonism, (5) in order to announce a radically enlightened way and
life of knowledge. These five traits, we propose, may help us describe the lead­ing
features of Sethian gnostics.
Finally, we extend the use of the terms gnostic and gnosticism to other
movements that appear to be linked to Sethian gnostics historically or that
resemble Sethian gnostics phenomenologically. Sometimes there seem to be
historical connections between Sethian gnostic texts and texts that are repre­sentative
of some other sort of gnosis, and at other times there seem to be clear
similarities in content and theme. This wider application of the terms gnostic
and gnosticism allows us to classify comparable texts and traditions as repre­sentative
of gnosticism.
In this volume, then, we understand the following to be the traits of gnos­tic
religions:
1. While the spirit of late antiquity exhibits certain gnostic features, as Hans
Jonas has shown, religious movements that are to be classified as gnostic

25. 16 INTRODUCTION
religions in a specific sense are those that give a primary place to gnosis,
unmediated mystical knowledge, as the way to salvation and life.
2. Gnostic religions typically employ wisdom traditions that are related
to the Jewish family of religions but are usually influenced by Greek
thought, and wisdom (or another manifestation of the divine) is often
personified as a character in a cosmic drama.
3. Gnostic religions typically present stories and myths of creation, es­pecially
from the book of Genesis, interpreted in an innovative man­ner,
with the transcendent divine spirit commonly distinguished from
the creator of the world, often to the point of dualism, in order to ex­plain
the origin, estrangement, and ultimate salvation of what is di­vine
in the world and humanity.
4. In their explanations and interpretations, gnostic religions typically
make use of a wide variety of religious and philosophical traditions
and find truths in a diversity of sources, such as Jewish, Greek, and
other sources, including platonism.
5. Gnostic religions typically proclaim the vision of a radically enlightened
life that transcends the mundane world and attains to the divine.
These traits of gnostic religions come to expression, to varying degrees, in
the sacred texts that are included in this volume: wisdom gospels, classic
texts of gnostic religions—Sethian, Valentinian, Syrian, and other gnostic re­ligions—
and Hermetic, Mandaean, Manichaean, Islamic, and Cathar texts.
These traits, though derived from an analysis of a Sethian text of fundamen­tal
significance from a tradition that understood itself to be gnostic, do not
necessarily come to expression in a uniform way in the texts included here—
recall what lonathan Z. Smith said about the relative nature of comparisons.
Yet all of the texts included in this volume address the interests of gnosis and
gnosticism.
The term bible is derived ultimately from the ancient Greek word biblos (or
byblos), meaning "papyrus," the reed used to make a primitive sort of paper in
order to construct scrolls and codices, or books, in the world of ancient book­binding.
The Greek word was also written in a diminutive form, biblion; the
plural is biblia, "books." Within the context of Judaism and Christianity cer­tain
books came to be associated with the sacred scriptures, which in turn
were eventually referred to in the singular, the Bible. Thus, within the history

26. INTRODUCTION 17
of the use of the term, the Bible, or the book, designates a collection or an­thology
of sacred texts.
We can explain how this set of meanings came to be associated with the
word Bible by examining the process of establishing a canon or canons within
Judaism and Christianity. Organized religions usually teach that adherents to
a given religion should observe the tenets of the tradition in a way that is right,
proper, and correct according to a given canon. (Originally a canon was a cane
or reed, a measuring stick, but the term came to be applied to any standard by
which one might determine whether a person's thoughts or actions measure
up to the standard of correctness in the tradition.) Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam are religions of the book, and so their canons are written canons, au­thoritative
books and anthologies. For Judaism and Christianity, their author­itative
books are the Hebrew Bible (or, more exactly, the Tanakh, that is, the
Torah ["law"], Neviim ["prophets"], and Kethuvim ["writings"]) and the
New Testament (or the New Covenant), respectively. The Hebrew Bible was
used in antiquity in Hebrew and in Greek translation. The Greek version
called the Septuagint was completed in Alexandria, Egypt, by bilingual Jewish
translators during the first centuries BCE. A legend emerged that the Septu­agint
was written in a miraculously identical fashion by seventy-two transla­tors
who labored in pairs over a period of seventy-two days. The Septuagint
was the Bible of the early Christian church, which originated, after all, as a
Jewish religious movement. This Greek translation of the scriptures of Ju­daism
contains several texts not included in the Hebrew Bible—for example,
Baruch, 1 Esdras, Judith, 1-4 Maccabees, Sirach, Tobit, and the Wisdom of
Solomon. To this day the inclusion or exclusion of these texts contained in the
Septuagint remains a canonical issue among Protestant, Roman Catholic, and
Orthodox Christians.
The formation of the New Testament as the Christian Bible was a gradual
process that took centuries to complete. Finally, at the Council of Trent in
1545, the Roman Catholic Church acted to recognize its list of biblical, canon­ical
books as final, that is, closed to any additions or subtractions. (Minor
changes from the work of textual critics are quietly incorporated into new
printings of Bible translations.) Many Protestant denominations have never
acted officially to recognize a biblical canon. While there is widespread agree­ment
among Christians concerning what books should be included in the
New Testament, the traditions of the Syrian and Ethiopic churches have
claimed that different sets of texts should be included in the Christian canon.
Today some are proposing the Gospel of Thomas as an authoritative Christian

27. 18 INTRODUCTION
text, and the Jesus Seminar in Santa Rosa, California, is discussing the possi­bility
of a new New Testament, a new Christian Bible.
Arguably the most influential person in the process of the formation of a
New Testament was a second-century Christian teacher, a dyed-in-the-wool
dualist named Marcion of Sinope. Marcion is sometimes included in discus­sions
of the gnostics because of his radical dualism, but his Christian religion
was a religion of faith rather than gnosis. In this volume we consider Marcion to
be an unrepentant Paulinist, with a literalistic way of reading the Bible, rather
than a gnostic. As one prominent scholar quipped, the only person in the sec­ond
century who understood Paul was Marcion, and he misunderstood him.
Marcion was a rich shipowner turned evangelist who went to Rome in the
middle of the second century in order to contribute his money and his teach­ings
to the Roman church. Both were returned to him. Marcion preached that
the good and loving god, revealed in Christ, must be distinguished from the
just and righteous god, who was the god of the Jewish people. Marcion's the­ological
dualism, with all its anti-Semitic implications, necessitated for him
the creation of a new Bible, a new authoritative book for the god newly re­vealed
in Christ. Marcion wrote a book, a rather simple-minded piece called
the Antitheses, with quotations from Jewish and Christian texts that seemed
to Marcion to show the striking contrasts between the Jewish god and the
Christian god. Marcion also formulated a Christian canon—as far as we can
tell, he was the first Christian to come up with the idea of a separate Christian
Bible. He knew of a series of letters of Paul, and he knew of the Gospel of Luke,
which he considered Paul's gospel, and he combined these into his New Testa­ment.
And when he read in Paul's letter to the Galatians that some trouble­some
people want to "pervert the gospel of Christ" (1:7), he took the words
seriously and literally. He assumed that lackeys of the Jewish god were per­verting
the written texts by penning in words favorable to the Jewish god and
the scriptures of the Jewish god. Marcion responded as a highly opinionated
textual critic by removing the sections of Paul's letters and Luke's gospel that
he thought needed to be erased in order to restore the texts to their original
form. For Marcion's misguided efforts his foe Tertullian chided him, "Shame
on Marcion's eraser!"
Marcion proved to be popular and influential as a leader of his church, but
only for a time. Eventually he was rejected by many Christians, including the
heresiologists, and declared a heretic. The Christians opposed to Marcion dis­liked
his insistence on two gods and his rejection of Judaism and the god of
the Hebrew Bible. Instead, such Christians looked for continuity in the history

28. INTRODUCTION 19
of salvation from Judaism to Jesus and beyond. Yet the Christian canonical
idea of Marcion carried the day, as did Marcion's basic outline of the Christ­ian
canon, with a gospel section and an epistolary (Pauline) section. From the
perspective of the Christian Bible, Marcion lost the battle but won the war.
When we refer to the texts in the present volume as The Gnostic Bible, we
are in this world of discourse. We are presenting these texts as sacred books
and sacred scriptures of the gnostics, and collectively as sacred literature of the
gnostics. But in this Bible of the gnostics there is no sense of a single, author­itative
collection. The sacred literature in this Bible illustrates a diversity that
we have suggested is characteristic of gnostic religions. Further, the sacred lit­erature
in this Bible constitutes no closed canon. We present here what we
judge to be the most significant gnostic texts, but there are other gnostic texts
that have not been included. All these gnostic texts may be equally authorita­tive,
truths may be discovered in a variety of texts and traditions, and the way
to wisdom and knowledge cannot be closed. Such a sense of wisdom and
knowledge has made this sacred literature attractive to free spirits in the past
and equally fascinating to many in the present day.

30. LETTING IN THE LIGHT
Translating Holy Texts
W I L L I S BARNSTONE
Spiritual and mystical scriptures survive on the
fire of art. Without the fire the new word is dead.
—Pierre Grange, "On Translating the Holy"
g_ J uminating about literary translation is an ancient habit. A pri-
I ^L mary idea has been that the aesthetic of the original should
JL. ^k— shine in translation. If that old news were remembered, we
might stop here. But for more than a century most versions of religious scrip­ture
have retained a formulaic, archaizing lexicon. Sadly, when the source is
both religious and supremely literary, as are the canons of major religions, the
aesthetic disappears in the transfer, whether out of religious faith or academic
purpose. The voice, the song, the whisper go unheard. They are not treated as
the holy scripture of Homer or Dante.
To maltreat Homer and Dante as the Bible has been hurt would be heresy.
To be sure, religious translation has enjoyed supreme moments. There
was the plain and immeasurable beauty of the Tyndale New Testament (1536)
and the holy strength of the King James Version (1611). The James, or Autho­rized,
Version was accomplished by some forty-seven scholars, who had been
instructed to revise earlier versions. With Tyndale as their main source and
genius as their guide, the Authorized's scholars remade the English language
and letters forever. Then, in the shadow and authority of the magnificent
King James, came imitations and corrections and a plunge to the pedestrian.

31. 2 2 INTRODUCTION
Anonymous teams in the Bible industry invented a compromise English,
without written or spoken precedent, but the greater readership either held
to the Authorized Version or ceased reading the Bible altogether. Early in the
twentieth century, the reigning poet and critic T. S. Eliot denounced Gilbert
Murray's wooden versions of the Greek classics, but there was no similar
regal figure to demand new, vibrant versions of sacred scripture.
Finally, late in the twentieth century came a change in climate and pub­lishing
ventures. There appeared the lovely translations of Richmond Latti-more's
New Testament and Robert Alter's Genesis and 1 and 2 Samuel. Their
example—of great erudition, of fresh fidelity to the complexity, range, and
beauty of the word—has proved that Bible translation need not be a weak
mirror of a vital past. There is every reason to expect a turn to the larger task
of doing the whole Bible in a version, or versions, worthy of the past and our
time. "Seamus Heaney's 'Beowolf' rises from the dead," wrote Richard Eder in
his review of Heaney's new translation the Old English epic. Eder concluded
(perhaps prophetically), "Translation is not mainly the work of preserving the
hearth—a necessary task performed by scholarship—but of letting a fire burn
in it."1 Much scholarly translation of religious scripture sees the English ver­sion
fundamentally as a crib or gloss for reading the source text. These tools
are laudable for reading and understanding a foreign page. Facing-page edi­tions
are attractive, and the interlinear pony serves as a dictionary for a quick
return to the source tongue. Word-for-word versions are a good initial step
to converting a foreign page, but verbal misery enters when the student or
scholar thinks that the English pony captures the poetry of Horace. An ex­treme
example of literalism is that of Aquila, a second-century proselyte Jew
from Pontos, who spent his life retranslating the Hebrew Bible into Greek to
replace the Septuagint. He reproduced every word and idiom from the He­brew
and followed Hebrew syntax whenever possible. Of course it was au­thoritative,
sacred, and unreadable. When today the "you" in sacred texts is
translated as "you (sing.)" and "you (plur.)," Aquila from Pontos has returned,
and he is not singing.
In rendering ancient languages into English, each age has its own speech
and demand for a natural reading experience. Most important, if the original
is worth transferring to English, it must be rich in sound and sense and sover­eign
in art. If scripture or myth, it has survived because of its breath and its style.
1. New York Times, February 22, 2000, p. B8.

32. INTRODUCTION 23
Those prophets who spoke magical words were not literary clods. Not if they
were to be heard. To make a work heard again, the translator must re-create
that cunning of art. Then a text can move pleasantly from foreign obscurity
into the light of our own familiar tongue.
Religious scholars have the ancient tongues to bring meaning to obscure
alphabets. That is their enormous virtue and power. Sometimes they are sci­entists
seeking information transfer, a dream of absolute denotation, which is
clearly incompatible with the connotative richness of scripture. Sometimes
they are scholar artists in the act of translating, which is ideal, as in the in­stances
of Lattimore and Alter.
In contrast to the mainly dim renderings of religious texts, the last century
saw classical literatures converted into vital contemporary speech. Robert
Fitzgerald, Richmond Lattimore, and Robert Fagles, all meticulous scholars,
have in distinctive ways given us splendid versions of Homer; and Fitzgerald
has carried Virgil's Aeneid from Latin—the marble language, as Borges called
it—into a resonant English poem. They have made Greek and Latin classics
thrilling to read. Like the Bible translators, they translate largely the sacred—
but the pagan sacred, not the Judeo-Christian. They renew Homer's bible
and Hesiod's theogony, Aeschylus's sacramental drama and Sappho's prayer
poems to Aphrodite. Those ancient religions of the Greeks are other, their
creators infidel, but that was long ago, and those works that have survived the
fires of iconoclasm are no longer a threat or rival heresy. So the translator is
free. In contrast to later Bible translations, still profoundly affected by a his­tory
of verbal piety, classical literature introduces no authority of faith for its
translator poets to contend with and resolve. The Bible did find a way into
nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, decisively and influentially, but
not through any new versions. It was the venerable King James Version that
held sway and passed into the hearts of Blake and Whitman, and Hopkins,
Eliot, and Thomas.
There is no single secret of literary translation. In fact there are many ways,
and none of them includes the notion of perfection, since perfection pre­sumes
a perfect transfer from one tongue to another, ofa = b. Language is much
too rich, on too many cognitive and aesthetic levels, to be reduced to the per­fection
of a formula of equality. Only in purely denotive, physically measura­ble
matters—ten acres of land, ten tons of pure iron ore—is exact translation
possible and required. Even the slippery notion of "exact equivalence," fash­ionable
in contemporary translation circles, is deception. The ways of transla­tion
have diverse linguistic and aesthetic variables, and for literary purposes

33. INTRODUCTION
these registers, from literal to license, from close to imitation, are the subject
of books and essays. As for method, closeness need not be a literary travesty,
and great creative freedom may arise from the deepest understanding of the
source text. In this the scholar may seem to have an advantage. But the next
step is to re-create from the source, and there the writer enters. If the scholar
and writer artist are one person, it is ideal. However, even the most erudite
non-artist scholar, apart from creating a gloss, can only do harm to the aes­thetic
of the original. Likewise, if the writer artist disdains knowledge of the
source text, the result may be lovely but will not go beyond imitation. A fre­quent
solution is to put scholars and writers together, which is exactly what
occurred when the forty-seven men assembled to prepare the King James Ver­sion.
Some contributed Hebrew, others Greek, others the sonorous word, and
the result was that grand collaboration. Sometimes one person is both artist
and scholar, as Robert Fitzgerald for Homer and Virgil, and Richard Wilbur
for Moliere's verse plays. More commonly an informant and a writer collabo­rate
intelligently as one voice.
Pragmatically, there must be a meeting between the original creator and
the writer who re-creates. When Robert Fitzgerald went to Saint Elizabeth's
Hospital, where Ezra Pound was imprisoned, and asked the older poet how to
render Homer into English, Pound said simply, "Let Homer speak." It takes
great courage to let the original author speak through oneself, the translator.
There is always the temptation to listen obliquely or selfishly, and to convert
the ancestor's voice completely into one's own. Some follow this temptation
and produce masterpieces. Chaucer nobly practiced this art when he turned a
Boccaccio tale into Troilus and Criseyde and Pound transformed the Chinese
poet Li Bai into Cathay. More recently, David Ferry's translation of Gilgamesh,
based on the work of earlier scholars, is a thoroughly felicitous achievement.
The other Fitzgerald, Edward of The Rubdiydt of Omar Khayyam, in 1859 pub­lished
his free adaptation from the twelfth-century Persian mystical poet. Se­lecting
certain verses of the sequence, he arranged them in a new order. His
work is praised as a classic of English literature, standing on its own, escaping
the scarlet-T label of "mere" translation. It achieved the dignity of an original.
So too the King James Version has for centuries been popularly received as
"original scripture" containing the exact chapter and verse of "gospel truth."
Bringing words understood only by clergy into the light of common under­standing
has historically required not only art but great courage as well. The
history of these efforts is appalling.

34. INTRODUCTION 25
John Wyclif (1320-84), a master at Balliol College in Oxford, was the first
to transfer the gospels into the modern vernacular. With impoverished
preachers, who were called the Lollards, he took the gospels in English to the
people. In 1401 Archbishop Arundel denounced Wyclif as heretical, fuming,
"The pearl of the Gospel is scattered abroad and trodden underfoot by swine."
Arundel further wrote in his report to papal claimant John XXIII in 1421,
"This pestilent and wretched John Wyclif, of cursed memory, that son of the
old serpent... endeavoured by every means to attack the faith and sacred doc­trine
of Holy Church, devising—to fill up the measure of his malice—the ex­pedient
of a new translation into the mother tongue."2 The scholar's death
saved him. Some associates were burned alive for their unauthorized vernac­ular
renderings. Wyclif lay safely in the earth until 1424, when his bones were
dug up, burned, and thrown into the River Swift.
Etienne Dolet (1509-46) translated the Bible into French, but it was for
translating Plato in such a way as to subvert the notion of immortality that he
was tried for heresy and taken to the stake. However, in his Maniere de bien
traduire d'une langue en aultre (1540), he did leave us five important rules of
translating, of which the final one applies to all good writing: "The translator
must achieve harmonious cadences, he must compose in a sweet and even
style so as to ravish the reader's ear and intellect."3
William Tyndale dared to translate the New Testament into English. It is
fair to say that he established the English language for the Bible: the King
James Version of the New Testament is in large part Tyndale's phraseology.
Tyndale's prose is clear, modern, minimally Latinized, and with unmatched
narrative powers. Everything is fresh, including the use of very common
words, unelevated for religious respectability.
For "his cunning counterfeit," which Bishop Wolsey called "persiferous
and most pernicious poison," he was arrested. It is good to remember that the
word once had so much power to disturb. Sir Thomas More ranted allitera-tively
against this "devilish drunken soul," who challenged the hierarchy with
his English phrases, which the lowest figure of society would receive without
mediation of Latin or clergy. In what amounted to a poem of rage, More pro­nounced
that "this drowsy drudge hath drunken so deep in the devil's dregs
that if he wake and repent himself the sooner he may hap to fall into draff that
2. Quoted in Barnstone, The Poetics of Translation, p. 201.
3. Quoted in Steiner, After Babel, p. 263.

35. 26 INTRODUCTION
the hogs of hell shall feed upon."4 More specifically, More wrote, "Tyndale has
wilfully mistranslated the scripture, and deceived blind unlearned people by
teaching what he knows to be false. His life is of likelihood as evil as his teach­ing,
worse it cannot be. He is a beast who teaches vice, a forewalker of an­tichrist,
a devil's limb."5
Yet none of these attacks could erase Tyndale's genius of plain word and
humble ideal, nor hush his plea for a candle and a Hebrew dictionary to con­tinue
his heretical translations as he lingered for nearly two years in his light-less
cell. Tyndale's hope for a new audience coincided with that expressed by
his admired Erasmus, whose work Exhortations to the Diligent Study of Scrip­ture
Tyndale translated in 1529:
I wold desire that all women should reade the gospell and Paules
episteles and I wold to God they were translated in to the tonges
of all men so that they might not only be read and knowne of the
scotes and yrishmen But also of the Turkes and the Sarracenes.
... I wold to God the plowman wold singe a texte of the scripture
at his plow-beme. And that the wever at his lowme with this
wold drive away the tediousness of tyme. I wold the wayfaringe-man
with this pastyme wold expelle the weriness of his iorney.6
Tyndale's translation of scripture into the everyday English was to expose
the faithful to a forbidden text, a deed as heretical as revealing a proscribed
gnostic scripture or of affirming the prime authority of Hebrew Scripture,
which was routinely called "the corrupt original." For his crime, on October 6,
1536, William Tyndale was taken to the stake, strangled by the hangman, and
burned.
An epilogue to Tyndale's death and his unfinished labor of Bible transla­tion
came with the King James Bible, which accomplished under royal com­mand
what William Tyndale courageously desired to do on his own. The
preface to the James concludes with a line redeeming not only the vernacular
version but the notion of the word as light, the logos asphos, which is also the
spiritual essence of gnosticism: "Translation it is that openeth the window, to
let in the light."
4. Quoted in MacGregor, Literary History of the Bible from the Middle Ages to the Present Day,
p.115.
5. Quoted in Mozley, William Tyndale, p. 217.
6. Quoted in Barnstone, The Poetics of Translation, p. 204-

36. INTRODUCTION 27
These little books constituting The Gnostic Bible are a privilege to transfer into
English. Though heterogeneous, they have a common flame of belief, a myth­ical
memory of creation and gods, and a poetry that goes through all forms.
The purpose of cosmic tale, exegesis, and sermon is to convert you, the ancient
and now modern reader; to bring you along to a secret knowledge available
within you. These scriptures have a generosity of spirit, and while they are not
immune to issuing religious warnings, light overcomes darkness, and spirit
rises internally above the confines of its earthly body. These are texts written
by passionate philosophers and allegorizing exegetes. In these disparate
groups, from China to Provence, who held that we are sparks of light caught
in a perishable body, there is a constant excitement of the new and a freedom
to invent and to contend with all dark error. The Cathars, the last major gnos­tic
speculation, recalled and reinvented scripture, and their troubadours com­posed
and sang with satiric fun and shocking candor—all while the swords of
the Albigensian Crusade (1209) prepared to extinguish them.
Now these ancient heresies, preserved in a variety of versions, survive as
profound, powerful utterances. From the first-century Gospels of Thomas
and John and the Book of Baruch to the twelfth-century Gospel of the Secret
Supper, these copied and recopied and translated scriptures have haphazardly
come down to us. Buried by a cliff in Egypt or discovered in an Inquisition
archive on the Cathars, they are as fresh as outrage. We have a world literature
of cosmogonies and diatribes, delicious songs of Solomon from the Syriac, es­sential
metaphysical speculation, and the cunning whisper of the spirit. They
are not ordinary. They are for your eyes to hear.

38. PART ONE
Early Wisdom Gospels

40. INTRODUCTION
M A R V I N MEYER
n the beginning was wisdom, Hokhmah, Sophia.
One of the earliest forms of exalted expression in the world of Mediter­ranean
and Middle Eastern antiquity was wisdom. Wisdom can be both the
product of experience and the gift of the gods. Wisdom is what the father
teaches the son, the parent the child, the sage the student. Through wisdom
and knowledge, people learn how to speak and act among family and friends
and foes, in social encounters, in the political arena, on the street. Through
wisdom and knowledge, people learn about the world and the ways of the
world, and how to cope with it. Through wisdom and knowledge, people ad­dress
the ultimate questions: Why do the wicked prosper? Why do the good
suffer? What is the end of human life? Is this all there is?
ANCIENT SAGES AND WISDOM LITERATURE
From the times of the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, wisdom and
knowledge have been seen as keys to a good and successful life. So in Egypt an
old sage, under the name of Ptahhotep, offers advice to his "son" with every­day
observations and clever turns of speech: "Do not let your heart be puffed
up because of your knowledge. Do not be confident because you are wise. Take
counsel with the ignorant as well as the wise. The full limits of skill cannot be
attained, and there is no skilled person equipped to full advantage. Good
speech is hidden more than the emerald, but it may be found with young
women at the grindstones." Again: "If you are a leader commanding the affairs
of the multitude, seek out for yourself every beneficial deed, until it may be
that your own affairs are without wrong. lustice is great, and its appropriate­ness
is lasting; it has not been disturbed since the time of the one who made it,
I

41. 32 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
whereas there is punishment for one who passes over its laws The strength
of justice is that it lasts."1
In ancient Mesopotamia, wisdom is also praised, often as a gift of the gods.
In one text an unnamed sage praises wisdom and the divine lord of wisdom,
here understood to be Marduk, god of Babylon, whose way is both terrible
and gentle: "I will praise . . . Marduk, the lord of wisdom, the deliberate god,
who lays hold of the night but frees the day, whose fury surrounds him like a
storm wind, but whose breeze is as pleasant as a morning zephyr, whose anger
is irresistible, whose rage is a devastating flood, but whose heart is merciful,
whose mind forgiving . . . whose hands the heavens cannot hold back, but
whose gentle hand sustains the dying."2
In the ancient Greco-Roman world, wisdom was the domain of the
philosopher, the lover of wisdom and knowledge, who dispenses wisdom and
knowledge. Those philosophers with Cynic proclivities, so named for their
rough, doglike lifestyles, employ witty sayings with a Cynic bite in order to
teach the good and noble life. Thus: "Marcus Porcius Cato, when asked why he
was studying Greek literature after his eightieth year, said, 'Not that I may die
learned but that I may not die unlearned.'" And: "The Pythagorean philoso­pher
Theano, when asked by someone how long it takes after having sex with
a man for a woman to be pure to go to the Thesmophoria, said, 'If it is with her
own husband, at once, but if with someone else's, never.'" And again: "When
Diogenes the Cynic philosopher saw a country boy scooping up water in his
hand in order to drink, he threw away the cup that he was carrying in his bag
and said, 'Now I can be this much lighter.' "3
In the world of early Judaism, sages are revered for their insight into the
human condition before god, and sometimes the wisdom they proclaim is
personified as Hokhmah (in Hebrew) or Sophia (in Greek), terms of feminine
gender used to indicate wisdom as the female expression of the divine. The
figure of wisdom in Judaism echoes the earlier goddesses of wisdom in other
traditions—Maat in Egypt, Ishtar in Mesopotamia—and wisdom's career
continues through the gnostic texts published in the present volume. In
Proverbs wisdom herself is said to raise her voice:
i. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p. 412.
2. Ibid., p. 596.
3. On sayings of the Cynic philosophers, see Hock and O'Neil, The Chreia in Ancient Rhetoric.

42. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 33
0 people, to you I call out
and raise my voice to all the living.
You the simple, learn prudence;
acquire intelligence, you the foolish.
Listen, for I have noble things to say,
and from my lips will come what is right.
Choose my instruction instead of silver,
knowledge rather than choice gold.
Wisdom is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire compares with her.
1 wisdom live with prudence
and possess knowledge and discretion.
The lord brought me forth
as the first of his works,
the first of his acts of old.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the beginning before the world began.
I was at his side like a master worker
and was filled with delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in his people.
(Proverbs 8:4-6,10-12, 22-23, 30-31)
This ancient wisdom, which provided ideas of how people might live with
insight, virtue, and happiness, proved to be compelling, and wisdom sayings
were communicated both by word of mouth and in written form. In the an­cient
world, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greco-Roman, and Jewish books of
wisdom were compiled and circulated widely. The wisdom literature of an­cient
Egypt and Mesopotamia dates back to the second and third millennia
BCE with collections of wisdom sayings by sages such as Amenemhat, Amen-emope,
Ptahhotep, Shuruppak, and Ahikar. The Cynic sayings from Greco-
Roman times were collected in textbooks called Progymnasmata. These
sayings were called chreiai, "useful sayings," and they were judged useful for
rhetorical instruction and for the conduct of life. The Progymnasmata were

43. 34 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
used within educational systems into the Byzantine period and far beyond,
even into the modern world, in educational systems in Europe and the Amer­ican
colonies. Jewish wisdom literature is included within the Hebrew Bible
and elsewhere. Some of the prominent books of Jewish wisdom are Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, the Wisdom of Solomon, and Sirach, as well as the
tractate Pirke aboth (Sayings of the Fathers), which is included in the Talmud.
JESUS THE JEWISH SAGE
Within this dynamic world of ancient wisdom, Hokhmah, Sophia, Jesus of
Nazareth (or Yeshua, using his Semitic name) was born to humble beginnings
in Galilee, in Israel. In later christology Jesus would attain the stature of di­vinity,
but his actual life may have been closer to that of a wisdom teacher—
that is, a rabbi. The Christian gospels and other theological statements describe
Jesus as the Christ, the messiah, the anointed, the son of god and son of man
(or earthly son, human son, human child—several translations are used in
this collection). According to the Gospel of John, Jesus is the word of god,
god in human flesh. The Apostles' Creed proclaims that he was born of the
virgin Mary, raised from the dead on the third day, and taken up into heaven,
and the Nicene Creed acclaims him as "true god of true god, begotten not
made, of one substance (homoousios) with the father."4 Thus Jesus was pro­moted
to be a full member of the godhead, the second person of the divine
trinity, composed of god the father, Christ the son, and the holy spirit. Sev­eral
texts comment on the possibility of the holy spirit as the mother—the
true mother—of Jesus, including the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip,
and the Secret Book of James in this collection.
But the dogmatic Christ of the Nicene Creed and the other Christian
creeds is hardly the same person as Jesus of Nazareth. Precisely who Jesus was
as a historical person continues to be debated among scholars, and there is no
consensus. During much of the twentieth century it was assumed, following
Albert Schweitzer, that Jesus was an apocalyptic visionary who foresaw—mis­takenly—
the end of the world and the dawning of the kingdom of god.
4. The Greek word homoousios was hotly debated at the Christian church councils, at Nicaea
and elsewhere, and some people preferred the word homoiousios, "of a similar substance," to
the word destined to be voted in as the orthodox term. What a difference a single letter in a
Greek word, the modest Greek iota (z), can make! No wonder that some parties in the christo-logical
debate protested the use of any such Greek word in confessions about Christ. Use only
biblical terms, they pleaded, but they were destined to lose the battle.

44. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 35
Schweitzer's paragraph in his Quest of the Historical Jesus presents a powerful
image of the apocalyptic Jesus:
There is silence all around. The baptizer appears, and cries, "Re­pent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Soon after that
comes Jesus, and in the knowledge that he is the coming son of
man lays hold of the wheel of the world to set it moving on that
last revolution which is to bring all ordinary history to a close. It
refuses to turn, and he throws himself upon it. Then it does turn,
and crushes him. Instead of bringing in the eschatological con­ditions,
he has destroyed them. The wheel rolls onward, and the
mangled body of the one immeasurably great man, who was
strong enough to think of himself as the spiritual ruler of hu­mankind
and to bend history to his purpose, is hanging upon it
still. That is his victory and his reign.5
That is his victory, that is his reign, that is the kingdom. Jesus was convinced
that the kingdom of god would come soon, but he was wrong, Schweitzer
claimed—heroically wrong, yet dead wrong.
Today many scholars are questioning whether Schweitzer and others were
right in proposing that Jesus was first and foremost an apocalyptic figure.
Schweitzer himself seems to have had second thoughts about Jesus as an apoc-alypticist.
During much of his life Schweitzer focused his attention upon the
sayings of Jesus—sayings of the Jewish sage—and in a later version of the pref­ace
to The Quest of the Historical Jesus Schweitzer suggests that Jesus' ethical
teachings may be more central to his message than the apocalyptic vision. As
scholars increasingly are reasoning, if the apocalyptic vision actually comes
from believers in the early church, then the supposed apocalyptic preoccupa­tions
of Jesus may have been placed upon him by his biographers. Jesus may
not have been a preacher of the apocalypse after all; he may have been a Jew­ish
teacher of wisdom, a teller of stories, a sage.
There is considerable evidence to support the interpretation of Jesus as a
Jewish sage. The New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all
contain a substantial amount of material reflecting Jesus' teachings and sayings.
Among the first three gospels (usually termed the synoptic gospels), Matthew
and Luke have more sayings and stories than Mark, and most scholars think
5. Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, pp. 370-71.

45. 36 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
this is due to an additional written source, besides Mark, that Matthew and
Luke both used. In order to make the strong, relatively silent Jesus of Mark's
gospel more loquacious, most scholars deduce, Matthew and Luke must have
added a collection of Jesus' sayings, now called Q (from Quelle, German for
"source"), to the story of Jesus.6 If this is so, then Q must antedate the Gospels
of Matthew and Luke as a gospel of the wisdom of Jesus, and thus it may have
originated in the middle of the first century, only a couple of decades after
Jesus' death. A good case can be made that a version of another early wisdom
gospel, the Gospel of Thomas, was also composed in the middle of the first
century, around the time of Q, or maybe a little later. This evidence leads to the
conclusion that some of the earliest Christian gospels were gospels of wisdom,
presenting Jesus as a teacher of wisdom. The sayings gospel Q and the Gospel
of Thomas present Jesus of Nazareth as a Jewish sage, and they may well have
gotten it, in large part, historically right.
As a Jewish teacher, Jesus announces the presence of the reign or kingdom
of god, and he does so with aphorisms and stories (usually termed parables).
Q 6:20-31 (from Luke's sermon on the plain and Matthew's sermon on the
mount) illustrates how Jesus speaks in this sayings gospel:
Blessings on you the poor,
for the kingdom of god is yours.
Blessings on you who are hungry,
for you will eat well.
Blessings on you who grieve,
for you will be comforted.
Blessings on you
when they insult you
and oppress you
and tell all kinds of evil about you
because of the human child.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward is great in heaven.
6. On Q, see Mack, The Lost Gospel, and Robinson, Hoffman, and Kloppenborg, The Critical
Edition ofQ. Since Q material is preserved in Matthew and Luke, with variations, we some­times
refer to the Matthean and Lukan versions of Q. The usual means of referencing Q, also
used here, employs the chapter and verse designations of Luke.

46. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 37
For this is how they oppressed the prophets
who came before you.
Love your enemies,
and pray for those who oppress you,
that you may be children of your father,
for he makes the sun rise on the evil and the good,
and makes it rain on the just and the unjust.
If someone slaps you on one cheek,
offer the other also.
If someone wants to sue you and take your shirt,
let the person have your coat also.
And if someone compels you to go one mile,
go with the person a second mile.
Give to one who begs from you,
and if someone borrows from you,
do not ask for it back.
And treat people the way you want people to treat you.
The texts that follow in this volume, especially the Gospel of Thomas, give
more examples of aphorisms of Jesus. The Gospel of Thomas also presents a
number of his stories, or parables, as do other texts in this volume, especially
the Secret Book of James and the Book of Thomas.
Thus the sayings attributed to Jesus in Q reflect the Jewish wisdom tradi­tion.
But Q also reflects the Jewish tradition of personified wisdom, Sophia,
who comes to expression through the sagacity of Jesus. According to the
Lukan version of Q 11:49, the wisdom (Sophia) of god utters a saying about
those who are sent forth; in the Matthean version it is Jesus who says this. The
two texts seem to agree that divine wisdom speaks through Jesus, but this idea
is expressed in two different ways. Again, according to the Lukan version of Q
7:35, Jesus refers to wisdom (personified) being vindicated by her children
(John the baptizer and Jesus), but in the Matthean version, by her deeds. Once
more Jesus and wisdom, Sophia, are closely connected to one another. This re­lationship
between Jesus and wisdom continues in gnostic traditions, as can
be seen in other texts within the present collection, for example, the Valentin-ian
texts. John the baptizer likewise continues to play a significant role in other

47. 3S EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
works included here (for example, Gospel of Thomas 46), and his place is par­ticularly
prominent in Mandaean texts.
THE GOSPELS OF THOMAS AND JOHN
In this first part of the present book, two early gospels with wisdom orienta­tions
are included: the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of John. Both pres­ent
Jesus as a proclaimer of wisdom and knowledge. The Gospel of Thomas
(like Q) has pithy sayings of Jesus, the Gospel of John (like many gnostic
sources) offers mystical discourses of Jesus, but both stress the role of Jesus as
one who discloses insight and knowledge. Although the Gospels of Thomas
and John cannot be described as specifically gnostic without some qualifica­tion,
both of these gospels employ themes that bring to mind gnostic motifs
that are more fully developed elsewhere, and the Gospel of John was the fa­vored
canonical gospel for gnostic exegesis. The Gospels of Thomas and John
may thus be described as representing incipient gnostic perspectives—but
they do so in very different ways.
Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas utters life-giving words, promising that
those who follow him, respond to his words, and find their true meaning will
not taste death. Yet Thomas's Jesus is "just Jesus," as Stephen Patterson puts it.7
Thomas's Jesus does not pull rank. He does not refer to himself (and he is not
referred to by others) as the Christ or the messiah, he is not acclaimed master
or lord, he is not announced as the incarnate and unique son of god, and when
he refers to himself as the son of man (the human child) once in the gospel
(saying 86), he does so in the generic sense of referring to any person or sim­ply
to himself. Further, if Thomas's Jesus is a human child, so are other people
called human children in the Gospel of Thomas.
Jesus in Thomas is just Jesus, but his words are not just words. They are
hidden words of wisdom from a living Jesus who lives on in his sayings—
hidden sayings, secret sayings, with hidden meanings. According to the
Gospel of Thomas, the interpretation of these wise but hidden sayings will
bring knowledge and life. Saying 2 states, "Whoever discovers what these say­ings
mean will not taste death"; saying 3 goes on to declare, "When you know
yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are chil­dren
of the living father"; sayings 5 and 6 affirm, "There is nothing hidden that
7. Patterson, Bethge, and Robinson, The Fifth Gospel, p. 43.

48. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 39
will not be revealed." In its concern for hidden wisdom that is revealed and un­derstood,
the Gospel of Thomas displays an interest found in other traditions, es­pecially
other gnostic traditions. In the Book of Thomas and the Secret Book of
James, for example, reference is also made to hidden sayings of Jesus and the
interpretation of the sayings. In the Secret (or Hidden) Book of John, as else­where,
the revealer indicates that questions will be answered and secrets will
be revealed to the inquirers. In the Secret Book of John the secrets of wisdom
in the world are said to be revealed, but this is personified wisdom, Sophia, whose
story is told in mythical narrative and drama. The Secret Book of John ends
with the revealer uttering a curse against anyone who betrays the mystery. The
savior says, "I have finished everything for you in your hearing. I have told you
everything, for you to record and communicate secretly to your spiritual
friends. For this is the mystery of the unshakable race." In such ways is wisdom
hidden and revealed in the Gospel of Thomas and the Secret Book of John.
Gospel of Thomas 50 is one of the most perplexing and perhaps one of
the most gnostic of the hidden sayings of Jesus. It reflects early traditions
about wisdom and the life of the soul (psyche), which must go through tran­sitions
and passages of life in order to attain its proper destiny. In the present
volume, the Song of the Pearl and the Exegesis on the Soul provide versions
of such a myth of the soul. In gnostic texts like the Secret Book of John, some
of the same motifs are used to present a gnostic account of the story of the
light and enlightened people, whose origin is in the divine light, who are cre­ated
in the image of the divine, and who are given movement and destined
for rest in the light. The format of Gospel of Thomas 50, with questions asked
and answers given, brings to mind accounts, in other sources and especially
gnostic sources, of heavenly powers interrogating the soul as it passes through
the spheres of heaven. Of course, many of these ideas are also reminiscent of
the creation story in the opening chapters of Genesis, in this case particularly
the first creation story in Genesis 1:1-2:3. And these ideas are paralleled in the
poem to the divine logos at the opening of the Gospel of John.
In the Gospel of John, in stark contrast to the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is
hardly "just Jesus." In John, Jesus is the Christ, the messiah, the son of god and
son of man. He is addressed as rabbi and is called master or lord. Here Jesus is
an exalted being, one with god the father, who walks around the world, incog­nito,
as god in the flesh, and who speaks in a way that sounds like the divine
talking, in "I am" utterances. There are many of these "I am" declarations
throughout ancient religious literature, as well as in the gnostic texts pub­lished
in the present volume—see Thunder, for example. In the Gospel of

49. 40 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
John, John the baptizer, in contrast to Jesus, is nobody: he admits that he is
neither the messiah nor Elijah (the prophet of the end time) nor another
prophet. The author of the Gospel of John is clearly painting a polemical por­trait
of John the baptizer, in order to play down the significance of a figure
whose role elsewhere, as we have seen, rivals that of Jesus. Among the Man-daeans,
John the baptizer is said to be the guarantor of the true ways of manda,
or gnosis, and Jesus is depicted as one who perverts the law and encourages
sorcery and error by departing from John and his ways. The author of the
Gospel of John also appears to paint a polemical portrait of another character
in his gospel account, namely, Thomas, who becomes in John's gospel the
quintessential skeptic, "doubting Thomas." That may be John's way of casting
doubt upon the hero of the Gospel of Thomas and other texts, the twin who
was responsible for safeguarding the wisdom and knowledge of Jesus.
The Gospel of John, unlike the Gospel of Thomas (and the sayings gospel
Q), is a narrative gospel, with a narration of the life of Jesus. John begins his
gospel story with the poem to the divine logos:
In the beginning was the word
and the word was with god,
and god was the word.
The word in the beginning was with god.
Through god everything was born
and without the word nothing was born.
What was born through the word was life
and the life was the light of all people
and the light in the darkness shone
and the darkness could not apprehend the light. (1:1-5)
All this echoes what is said of divine wisdom in Proverbs 8 and other texts
(see above), but here the Johannine poem serves as a preamble to the story of
Jesus. That story proceeds with miracles, called "signs" (Greek, semeia) in
John, such as Jesus' changing water to wine at Cana.8 The signs, like the say­ings,
have hidden meanings: Jesus explains this and other signs to Nikodemos
(Nicodemus) in a long, rambling discourse that is characteristic of the Gospel
of John—and some other gnostic texts. In his discourse Jesus distinguishes
8. This is originally the famous miracle of Dionysos, the Greek god of wine, whose power
comes to expression in the transformation of water into wine.

50. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 41
between what is of flesh—like the water and the wine—and what is of spirit,
what is earthly and what is heavenly:
If I tell you of earthly things and you do not believe,
how if I tell you of heavenly things will you believe? (3:12)
The real meaning of the signs, then, must be on the side of the spiritual and
the heavenly. Later Jesus clarifies the meaning of water being changed into
wine. The person of Jesus himself is the real, spiritual point of the sign, and
Jesus says, with divine nuances,
I am the true vine and my father is the gardener.
I am the vine, you the branches.
You who dwell in me as I in you
bear much fruit,
but without me you can do nothing. (15:1, 5)
According to John, then, Jesus the divine word in flesh discloses god:
The word became flesh and lived among us.
And we gazed on his glory,
the glory of the only son of the father,
who is filled with grace and truth. (1:14)
Jesus in John is a revealer who reveals what god's presence and glory mean:
No one has ever seen god.
Only the one born of god,
who is in the heart of the father,
has made him known. (1:18)
The story of Jesus in the Gospel of John culminates with the account of the
crucifixion and the resurrection appearances of Jesus. This conclusion to the
story of Jesus is somewhat like that of the synoptic gospels, which focus spe­cial
attention on the death and resurrection of Jesus. This sort of conclusion is
also similar to the proclamation of the messenger (or apostle) Paul, who
maintains that the message of the cross and resurrection is central to the

51. 42 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
Christian gospel. In 1 Corinthians Paul argues this point with vigor, and he
does so in opposition to the Corinthian Christians, who champion wisdom and
a gospel of wisdom; these wisdom Christians may even have used something
like Gospel of Thomas 17 (see below, with the note). The Gospel of John, then,
like the synoptic gospels and Paul, is quite unlike the sayings gospel Q and the
Gospel of Thomas, which show little or no interest in the crucifixion of Jesus.9
John's account of the crucifixion of Jesus puts his own theological spin on
the story. In the high priestly prayer in John 17 (which is neither high priestly
nor a prayer, but instead a commentary on the crucifixion story), Jesus an­nounces
that the hour or time has come—the hour or time of his death. The
hour of death, however, is not to be an hour of darkness, as in the synoptics,
where darkness overshadows the crucifixion of Jesus. Rather, it is an hour of
glory and of light. As Jesus says to god,
Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your son so that your son may glorify you.
I glorified you on earth
by completing the work you gave me to do.
And now glorify me, father, with yourself,
with the glory I had with you before the world was. (17:1, 4-5)
The scandal and the sting of the crucifixion are nearly gone in the Gospel
of John. Jesus' death is glory, a homecoming, a return to god's heavenly pres­ence
above. The light that had fallen, like a shooting star, into the world of
darkness, may now return back to god and the fullness (Greek pleroma, as in
John 1:16) of light above. It is a story reminiscent of the personified wisdom,
Hokhmah, Sophia. We shall see this story told about a variety of gnostic re-vealers
and saviors, including Jesus, in the gnostic sacred literature included in
this volume.
9. On the crucifixion of Jesus in gnostic sources, see particularly the Letter of Peter to Philip,
the Gospel of Truth, the Gospel of Philip, the Secret Book of James, the Round Dance of the
Cross, and the Second Treatise of the Great Seth; on the resurrection in gnostic sources, see
particularly the Treatise on Resurrection.

52. 1
The Gospel
of Thomas
I he Gospel of Thomas is a wisdom gospel. Like the sayings gospel
I Q, which most scholars now suggest was a source used in compil-
JL. ing the gospels of Matthew and Luke, the Gospel of Thomas por­trays
Jesus as one who disseminates life-giving wisdom through his sayings.
Unlike the New Testament gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and
other, non-canonical gospels, the Gospel of Thomas contains almost no nar­rative.
Jesus in Thomas performs no physical miracles, reveals no fulfillment
of prophecy, announces no apocalyptic kingdom about to disrupt the world
order, dies for no one's sins, and does not rise from the dead on Easter Sunday.
His value, rather, lies in his enigmatic sayings, which are pregnant with possi­bility
and power. "Whoever discovers what these sayings mean will not taste
death," Jesus promises. That is to say, one who uncovers the interpretive keys
to the meaning of these sayings thinks Jesus' thoughts after him and completes
his sayings in new and sagacious ways. Such a one seeks and finds true wisdom
and knowledge.
The editor of the gospel is said to be Judas Thomas, or Judas the twin, who
is acclaimed by Syrian Christians as the twin brother of Jesus and the messen­ger
(or apostle) to the Syrians. A version of this gospel may have been composed,
most likely in Greek, as early as the middle of the first century, or somewhat
later. A few scholars have suggested that the Gospel of Thomas may have been
composed in Syriac, but that proposal has not proved to be convincing. The

53. 44 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
gospel may have been written in Syria, possibly at Edessa (modern Urfa),
where the memory of Thomas was revered and where his bones were vener­ated.
Many of the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas recall sayings of Jesus in the
New Testament gospels, but many are previously unknown sayings or versions
of sayings of Jesus. Some sayings may well derive ultimately from the historical
Jesus. The Gospel of Thomas has attracted a great deal of popular interest and
was portrayed as a significant and suppressed collection of sayings of Jesus in
the film Stigmata.
The numbering of the sayings employed here (1-114) is a scholarly con­vention.
The translation gives the Semitic forms of Semitic names, in order to
highlight the Jewish identity of Jesus and his students and the Jewish context
of the life of the historical Jesus. For example, the name Yeshua is used for
Jesus; the other names are identified in the notes.
THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS'
These are the hidden sayings that the living Yeshua spoke and Yehuda Toma
the twin recorded.2
(1) And he said,3
Whoever discovers what these sayings mean4
will not taste death.
(2) Yeshua said,
Seek and do not stop seeking until you find.
When you find, you will be troubled.
1. The Gospel of Thomas: Nag Hammadi library, Codex 11,2, pp. 32,10 to 51,28, and in the
Greek fragments in Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1,654 and 655; translated from the Coptic by Marvin
Meyer. There are many parallels in the New Testament gospels to the sayings of Jesus in the
Gospel of Thomas. The New Testament parallels are not listed in the notes, for reasons of econ­omy
of space, but the serious seeker will easily find them.
2. Instead of "hidden sayings," we may translate as "secret sayings," or "obscure sayings" (Coptic
enshaje ethep, Greek Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654 hoi logoi hoi [apokryphoi]). The Book of
Thomas has a similar opening, and the Secret Book of James also calls itself a "secret book."
Yeshua is Jesus (here and throughout), and Yehuda Toma is Judas Thomas. The "living Yeshua"
is almost certainly not a reference to the resurrected Jesus as traditionally understood, but
rather to Jesus who lives through his sayings.
3. The speaker is probably Jesus, otherwise Judas Thomas with an editorial remark.
4. Or, "the interpretation [Coptic hermeneia, from Greek] of these sayings."

54. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
When you are troubled,
you will marvel and rule over all.5
(3) Yeshua said,
If your leaders tell you, "Look, the kingdom is in heaven,"
then the birds of heaven will precede you.
If they say to you, "It's in the sea,"6
then the fish will precede you.
But the kingdom is inside you and it is outside you.
When you know yourselves,7 then you will be known,
and you will understand that you are children of the living father.
But if you do not know yourselves,
then you dwell in poverty and you are poverty.
(4) Yeshua said,
A person old in days
will not hesitate to ask a little child
seven days old8 about the place of life,
and the person will live.9
For many of the first will be last
and become a single one.
(5) Yeshua said,
Know what is in front of your face
and what is hidden from you will be disclosed.
There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed.10
(6) His students asked him and said to him,
Do you want us to fast?
How should we pray?
5. Greek Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654 adds: "and having ruled, you will rest" (partially restored).
6. Greek Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654 reads: "it is under the earth."
7. "Know yourself" (Greek gnothi sauton) was a famous maxim from the oracular center dedi­cated
to Apollo at Delphi, Greece.
8. This probably indicates an uncircumcised boy (a Jewish boy was to be circumcised on the
eighth day), or else a child of the Sabbath of the first week of creation.
9. Hippolytus of Rome cites a version of this saying from the Gospel of Thomas used among
the Naassenes, in his Refutation of All Heresies 5.7.20: "One who seeks will find me in children
from seven years, for there, hidden in the fourteenth age, I am revealed."
10. Greek Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654 adds: "and nothing buried that will not be raised" (par­tially
restored).

55. 46 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
Should we give to charity?
What diet should we observe?11
Yeshua said,
Do not lie and do not do what you hate.12
All things are disclosed before heaven.
There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed,
nothing covered that will remain undisclosed.
(7) Yeshua said,
Blessings on the lion if a human eats it,
making the lion human.
Foul is the human if a lion eats it,
making the lion human.13
(8) And he said,
Humankind is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea
and drew it up from the sea full of little fish.
Among the fish he found a fine large fish.
He threw all the little fish back into the sea
and easily chose the large fish.
Whoever has ears to hear should hear.
(9) Yeshua said,
Look, the sower went out, took a handful of seeds,
and scattered them.
Some fell on the road
and the birds came and pecked them up.
Others fell on rock
and they did not take root in the soil
and did not produce heads of grain.
Others fell on thorns
and they choked the seeds
and worms devoured them.
11. These questions seem to be answered in saying 14.
12. This is the negative formulation of the golden rule.
13. This obscure saying seems to appeal to the lion as a symbol of all that is passionate and bes­tial:
the passions may either be consumed by a person or consume a person. The Secret Book of
John portrays Yaldabaoth, the ruler of this world, as lionlike in appearance. On the saying in
general, see Jackson, The Lion Becomes Man.

56. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 47
And others fell on good soil
and it brought forth a good crop,
yielding sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per measure.
(10) Yeshuasaid,
I have thrown fire upon the world,
and look, I am watching till it blazes.
(n) Yeshua said,
This heaven will pass away
and the one above it will pass away.
The dead are not alive
and the living will not die.
During the days when you ate what is dead
you made it alive.
When you are in the light, what will you do?
On the day when you were one
you became two.
But when you become two, what will you do?14
(12) The students said to Yeshua,
We know you will leave us.
Who will be our leader?
Yeshua said to them,
Wherever you are, seek out Yaakov the just.15
For his sake heaven and earth came into being.
(13) Yeshua said to his students,
Compare me to something
and tell me what I am like.
Shimon Kefa16 said to him,
You are like a just messenger.
14. This saying consists of four riddles about life in this world and beyond. A different phrasing of
the third riddle appears in the Naassene Sermon, in Hippolytus of Rome, Refutation of All Heresies
5.8.32: "If you ate dead things and made them living, what will you do if you eat living things?"
15. Yaakov the just (or the righteous) is James the just, the brother of Jesus and the leader of the
church in Jerusalem until his death in 62 CE. He was given his nickname because of his reputa­tion
for piety and Torah observance. On James the just in Jerusalem, see the conclusion to the
Secret Book of James.
16. Simon Peter.

57. Q EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
40
Matai17 said to him,
You are like a wise philosopher.
Toma18 said to him,
Rabbi,19 my mouth is utterly unable to say
what you are like.
Yeshua said,
I am not your rabbi.
Because you have drunk, you are intoxicated
from the bubbling spring I tended.20
And he took him and withdrew, and spoke three sayings21 to him.
When Toma came back to his friends, they asked him,
What did Yeshua say to you?
Toma said to them,
If I tell you one of the sayings he spoke to me,
you will pick up rocks and stone me22
and fire will come out of the rocks and consume you.
(14) Yeshua said to them,
If you fast you will bring sin upon yourselves,
and if you pray you will be condemned,
and if you give to charity you will harm your spirits.23
When you go into any region and walk through the countryside,
and people receive you, eat what they serve you
and heal the sick among them.
What goes into your mouth will not defile you,
but what comes out of your mouth will defile you.
17. Matthew.
18. Thomas.
19. Or, "Teacher" (Coptic sah).
20. Jesus is the enlightened bartender who serves up wisdom. In general this saying resembles
saying 108.
21. Or "three words" (Coptic enshomt enshaje). These three sayings or three words are not re­ported;
the reader must discover the interpretation. On three such words, see also Kaulakau,
Saulasau, Zeesar in the Naassene Sermon.
22. Within Judaism stoning was the punishment for blasphemy.
23. These statements seem to be answers to the questions in saying 6.

58. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 49
(15) Yeshua said,
When you see one not born of woman,
fall on your faces and worship.
That is your father.
(16) Yeshua said,
People may think I have come to impose peace upon the world.
They do not know that I have come to impose conflicts upon the earth:
fire, sword, war.
For there will be five in a house.
There will be three against two and two against three,
father against son and son against father,
and they will stand alone.
(17) Yeshua said,
I shall give you what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard,
what no hand has touched, what has not arisen in the human heart.24
(18) The students said to Yeshua,
Tell us how our end will be.
Yeshua said,
Have you discovered the beginning and now are seeking the end?
Where the beginning is, the end will be.
Blessings on you who stand at the beginning.
You will know the end and not taste death.
(19) Yeshua said,
Blessings on you who came into being
before coming into being.
If you become my students and hear my sayings,
these stones will serve you.
For there are five trees in paradise for you.
Summer or winter they do not change
and their leaves do not fall.
Whoever knows them will not taste death.25
24. Paul may cite this saying in 1 Corinthians 2:9 as a wisdom saying in use among enthusiasts
in Corinth.
25. The five trees of paradise are also discussed in Manichaean texts and in the Islamic Mother
of Books.

59. 50 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
(20) The students said to Yeshua,
Tell us what the kingdom of heaven is like.
He said to them,
It is like a mustard seed, the tiniest of seeds,26
but when it falls on prepared soil,
it produces a great plant
and becomes a shelter for the birds of heaven.
(21) Miryam27 said to Yeshua,
What are your students like?
He said,
They are like little children living in a field that is not theirs.
When the owners of the field come, they will say,
"Give our field back to us."
The children take off their clothes in front of them
to give it back,
and they return their field to them.
So I say, if the owner of a house knows that a thief is coming,
he will be on guard before the thief arrives
and will not let the thief break into the house of his estate
and steal his possessions.
As for you, be on guard against the world.
Arm yourselves with great strength,
or the robbers will find a way to reach you,
for the trouble you expect will come.
Let someone among you understand.
When the crop ripened,
the reaper came quickly with sickle in hand
and harvested it.
Whoever has ears to hear should hear.
(22) Yeshua saw some babies nursing. He said to his students,
These nursing babies
are like those who enter the kingdom.
26. Or, "a mustard seed. It is the tiniest of seeds."
27. Mary.

60. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 51
They said to him,
Then shall we enter the kingdom as babies?
Yeshua said to them,
When you make the two into one,
and when you make the inner like the outer
and the outer like the inner
and the upper like the lower,
and when you make male and female into a single one,
so that the male will not be male nor the female be female,
when you make eyes in place of an eye,
a hand in place of a hand,
a foot in place of a foot,
an image in place of an image,
then you will enter the kingdom.28
(23) Yeshua said,
I shall choose you as one from a thousand
and as two from ten thousand
and they will stand as a single one.
(24) His students said,
Show us the place where you are.
We must seek it.
He said to them,
Whoever has ears should hear.
There is light within a person of light
and it shines on the whole world.
If it does not shine it is dark.29
(25) Yeshua said,
Love your brother like your soul.
Protect that person like the pupil of your eye.
(26) Yeshua said,
You see the speck in your brother's eye
28. This is a statement of human transformation. The transformation of genders also is treated
in saying 114, but in somewhat different terms.
29. Instead of "it" in these clauses, we may also read "he."

61. 52 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
but not the beam in your own eye.
When you take the beam out of your own eye,
then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
(27) If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the kingdom.
If you do not observe the Shabbat as Shabbat,30
you will not see the father.
(28) Yeshua said,
I took my stand in the midst of the world,
and I appeared to them in flesh.
I found them all drunk
yet none of them thirsty.
My soul ached for the human children
because they are blind in their hearts
and do not see.
They came into the world empty
and seek to depart from the world empty.
But now they are drunk.
When they shake off their wine, they will repent.
(29) Yeshua said,
If the flesh came into being because of spirit,
it is a marvel,
but if spirit came into being because of body,
it is a marvel of marvels.
Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has come to dwell
in this poverty.
(30) Yeshua said,
Where there are three deities,
they are divine.
Where there are two or one,
I am with that one.31
30. Sabbath.
31. Greek Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1 has been reconstructed to read: "Where there are three, they
are without god, and where there is only one, I say, I am with that one." The Greek text then
goes on to present part of saying 77.

62. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
(31) Yeshua said,
A prophet is not accepted in the hometown.
A doctor does not heal those who know the doctor.
(32) Yeshua said,
A city built upon a high hill and fortified cannot fall,
nor can it be hidden.
(33) Yeshua said,
What you will hear in your ear
in the other ear32 proclaim from your rooftops.
No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket,
nor in a hidden place.
You put it on a stand
so that all who come and go will see its light.
(34) Yeshua said,
If a blind person leads a blind person,
both will fall in a hole.
(35) Yeshua said,
You cannot enter the house of the strong
and take it by force without binding the owner's hands.
Then you can loot the house.
(36) Yeshua said,
From morning to evening and from evening to morning,
do not worry about what you will wear.33
(37) His students said,
When will you appear to us
and when shall we see you?
32. "In the other ear" (Coptic hem pkemaaje) may be an instance of dittography (that is, inad­vertently
writing something twice), or the phrase may refer to another person's ear or perhaps
even one's own "inner" ear.
33. Greek Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 655 reads: "Do not worry, from morning to evening nor from
evening to morning, either about your food, what you will eat, or about your clothing, what
you will wear. You are much better than the lilies, which do not card or spin. And since you
have one change of clothing,... y o u . . . ? Who might add to your stature? That is the one who
will give you your garment."

63. 54 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
Yeshua said,
When you strip naked without being ashamed
and take your clothes and put them under your feef
like small children and trample them,
then you will see the child of the living one
and you will not be afraid.
(38) Yeshua said,
Often you wanted to hear these sayings I am telling you,
and you have no one else from whom to hear them.
There will be days when you will seek me
and you will not find me.
(39) Yeshua said,
The Pharisees and the scholars have taken the keys of knowledge
and have hidden them.
They have not entered,
nor have they allowed those who want to enter
to go inside.
You should be shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.
(40) Yeshua said,
A grapevine has been planted far from the father.
Since it is not strong
it will be pulled up by the root and perish.
(41) Yeshua said,
Whoever has something in hand will be given more
and whoever has nothing will be deprived
of the paltry things possessed.
(42) Yeshua said,
Be passersby.34
(43) His students said to him,
Who are you to say these things to us?
34. Or, "Be wanderers," or, much less likely, "Come into being as you pass away" (Coptic shope
etetenerparage). A parallel to this saying appears in an inscription from a mosque at Fatehpur
Sikri, India: "Jesus said, 'This world is a bridge. Pass over it, but do not build your dwelling
there."'

64. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 55
Yeshua said,
From what I tell you, you do not know
who I am,
but you have become like the Jews.
They love the tree but hate its fruit
or love the fruit but hate the tree.
(44) Yeshua said,
Whoever blasphemes against the father
will be forgiven,
and whoever blasphemes against the son
will be forgiven,
but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven,
either on earth or in heaven.
(45) Yeshua said,
Grapes are not harvested from thorn trees,
nor are figs gathered from thistles.
They yield no fruit.
A good person brings forth good from the storehouse.
A bad person brings forth evil things
from the corrupt storehouse in the heart
and says evil things.
From the abundance of the heart
such a person brings forth evil.
(46) Yeshua said,
From Adam to Yohanan the baptizer,35
among those born of women,
no one of you is so much greater than Yohanan
that your eyes should not be averted.
But I have said that whoever among you becomes a child
will know the kingdom
and become greater than Yohanan.
(47) Yeshua said,
A person cannot mount two horses or bend two bows,
35. John the baptizer.

65. 56 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
and a servant cannot serve two masters,
or the servant will honor one and offend the other.
No one who drinks aged wine
suddenly wants to drink new wine.
New wine is not poured into aged wineskins
or they may break,
and aged wine is not poured into a new wineskin
or it may spoil.
An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment
or it may tear.
(48) Yeshua said,
If two make peace with each other in one house,
they will tell the mountain, "Move,"
and the mountain will move.
(49) Yeshua said,
Blessings on you who are alone and chosen,
for you will find the kingdom.
You have come from it
and will return there again.
(50) Yeshua said,
If they say to you, "Where have you come from?"
say to them, "We have come from the light,
from the place where the light came into being by itself,
established itself, and appeared in their image."
If they say to you, "Is it you?"
say, "We are its children and the chosen of the living father."
If they ask you, "What is the evidence of your father in you?"
say to them, "It is motion and rest."36
(51) His students said to him,
When will the dead rest?
When will the new world come?
36. This saying recalls the accounts of the career of the soul or of the person in the Secret Book
of John, the Song of the Pearl, and the Exegesis on the Soul.

66. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 57
He said to them,
What you look for has come
but you do not know it.
(52) His students said to him,
Twenty-four prophets have spoken in Israel
and they all spoke of you.37
He said to them,
You have disregarded the living one among you
and have spoken of the dead.
(53) His students said to him,
Is circumcision useful or not?
He said to them,
If it were useful, fathers would produce their children
already circumcised from their mothers.
But the true circumcision in spirit38
is altogether valuable.
(54) Yeshua said,
Blessings on you the poor,
for yours is the kingdom of heaven.
(55) Yeshua said,
Those who do not hate their father and mother
cannot be my students,
and those who do not hate their brothers and sisters
and bear the cross39 as I do
will not be worthy of me.
(56) Yeshua said,
Whoever has come to know the world
has discovered a carcass,
and whoever has discovered a carcass,
of that person the world is not worthy.
37. Twenty-four is sometimes given as the number of books in the Hebrew Bible.
38. Paul also refers to spiritual circumcision in Romans 2:25-29 and elsewhere.
39. This is a common figure of speech for bearing up under burdens or difficulties.

67. 58 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
(57) Yeshua said,
The father's kingdom is like someone with good seed.
His enemy came at night and sowed weeds among the good seed.
He did not let them pull up the weeds
but said to them,
"No, or you might go to pull up the weeds
and pull up the wheat along with them."
On harvest day the weeds will be conspicuous
and will be pulled up and burned.
(58) Yeshua said,
Blessings on the person who has labored40
and found life.
(59) Yeshua said,
Look to the living one as long as you live
or you may die and try to see the living one
and you will not be able to see.
(60) He saw a Samaritan carrying a lamb as he was going to the land
ofYehuda.41
He said to his students,
. . . that person . ..
around the lamb.42
They said to him,
So he may kill it
and eat it.
He said to them,
He will not eat it while it is alive
but only after he has killed it
and it has become a carcass.
40. Or, "Blessings on the person who has suffered."
41. This saying is partially restored. Instead of "He saw" (Coptic afnau), it is also possible to re­store
to read "They saw" (Coptic aunau). The "land ofYehuda" is Judea.
42. Instead of"... that person . . . around the lamb," it is possible to read "That person is around
the lamb," or "Why does that person carry around the lamb?" It may be possible to understand
that the Samaritan was "trying to catch a lamb," and Jesus said, "That person is after the lamb."

68. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 59
They said,
Otherwise he cannot do it.
He said to them,
So with you. Seek a place of rest
or you may become a carcass and be eaten.
(61) Yeshua said,
Two will rest on a couch. One will die, one will live.
Salome said,
Who are you, mister? You have climbed on my couch
and eaten from my table as if you are from someone.43
Yeshua said to her,
I am the one who comes from what is whole.
I was given from the things of my father.
Salome said,
I am your student.
Yeshua said,
I say, if you are whole,44 you will be filled with light,
but if divided, you will be filled with darkness.
(62) Yeshua said,
I disclose my mysteries to those who are worthy
of my mysteries.45
Do not let your left hand know
what your right hand is doing.
(63) Yeshua said,
There was a rich person who was very wealthy.
He said, "I shall invest my money so I may sow, reap, plant,
and fill my storehouses with produce.
Then I shall lack nothing."
43. The word translated "couch" (Coptic doc) may also be translated "bed," but the saying
probably refers to a couch used for dining. The clause "as if you are from someone" may derive
from the phrase "as a stranger."
44. The Coptic text is emended slightly here.
45. Partially restored.

69. 6o EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
This is what he was thinking in his heart,
but that very night he died.
Whoever has ears should hear.
(64) Yeshua said,
A person was receiving guests. When he prepared the dinner
he sent his servant to invite the guests.
The servant went to the first and said,
"My master invites you."
That person said,
"Some merchants owe me money.
They are coming tonight.
I must go and give them instructions.
Please excuse me from dinner."
The servant went to another and said,
"My master invites you."
He said to the servant,
"I have bought a house
and I've been called away for a day.
I have no time."
The servant went to another and said,
"My master invites you."
He said to the servant,
"My friend is to be married
and I am to arrange the banquet.
I can't come. Please excuse me from dinner."
The servant went to another and said,
"My master invites you."
He said to the servant,
"I have bought an estate
and I am going to collect rent.
I shall not be able to come. Please excuse me."
The servant returned and said to his master,
"Those you invited to dinner have asked to be excused."

70. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 61
The master said to his servant,
"Go out into the streets and invite whomever you find for the dinner.
Buyers and merchants will not enter the places of my father."
(65) He said,
A . . . person46 owned a vineyard and rented it
to some farmers to work it
and from them he would collect its produce.
He sent his servant for the farmers to give him
the produce of the vineyard. They seized, beat,
and almost killed his servant, who returned
and told his master. His master said,
"Perhaps he did not know them." And he sent
another servant, but they beat him as well.
Then the master sent his son and said,
"Perhaps they will respect my son."
Since the farmers knew the son was the heir
of the vineyard, they seized him and killed him.
Whoever has ears should hear.
(66) Yeshua said,
Show me the stone that the builders rejected.
That is the cornerstone.
(67) Yeshua said,
One who knows all but lacks within
is utterly lacking.
(68) Yeshua said,
Blessings on you when you are hated and persecuted,
and no place will be found,
wherever you are persecuted.47
46. This may be restored to read "A good person" (Coptic ourome enchre[sto]s), or "A usurer,"
"A creditor" (Coptic ourome enchre[ste]s), with very different implications. In the first instance
a good person may be interpreted as the victim of violent tenant farmers, in the second an abu­sive
creditor may be understood as opposed by the victimized poor.
47. This saying may be understood to mean "you will find a place where you will not be perse­cuted,"
perhaps alluding to the flight of early Christians from Jerusalem to Pella in Transjordan
at the time of the first-century revolt against the Romans.

71. 62 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
(69) Yeshuasaid,
Blessings on you who have been persecuted in your hearts.
Only you truly know the father.
Blessings on you who are hungry
that the stomach of someone else in want may be filled.
(70) Yeshuasaid,
If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you.
If you have nothing within you,
what you do not have within you will kill you.
(71) Yeshua said,
I shall destroy this house
and no one will be able to rebuild it.
(72) Someone said to him,
Tell my brothers to divide my father's possessions with me.
He said to the person,
Mister, who made me a divider?
He turned to his students and said to them,
I am not a divider, am I?
(73) Yeshua said,
The harvest is large but the workers are few.
Beg the master to send out workers to the harvest.
(74) He said,48
Master, there are many around the drinking trough
but nothing in the well.49
(75) Yeshuasaid,
There are many standing at the door
but those who are alone will enter the wedding chamber.
(76) Yeshuasaid,
The father's kingdom is like a merchant
who owned a supply of merchandise and found a pearl.
48. Or, "Someone said" (Coptic pejaf). Sayings 73-75 most likely should be read as a small dialogue.
49. The word well is emended slightly. Instead of "nothing" it is also possible to read "no one"
(Coptic men laau).

72. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
The merchant was prudent.
He sold his goods and bought the single pearl
for himself.
So with you. Seek his treasure that is unfailing
and enduring,
where no moth comes to devour and no worm destroys.
(77) Yeshua said,
I am the light over all things.
I am all.
From me all has come forth,
and to me all has reached.
Split a piece of wood.
I am there.
Lift up the stone
and you will find me there.50
(78) Yeshua said,
Why have you come out to the countryside?
To see a reed shaken by the wind?
Or to see a person dressed in soft clothes
like your rulers and your people of power?
They are dressed in soft clothes
and cannot understand truth.
(79) A woman in the crowd said to him,
Blessings on the womb that bore you
and the breasts that fed you.
He said to her,
Blessings on those who have heard the word of the father
and have truly kept it. Days will come when you will say,
"Blessings on the womb that has not conceived
and the breasts that have not given milk."
(80) Yeshua said,
Whoever has come to know the world
has discovered the body,
50. Greek Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1 adds a version of this part of the saying after saying 30.

73. 64 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
and whoever has discovered the body,
of that person the world is not worthy.
(81) Yeshua said,
Let a person of wealth rule,
and a person of power renounce it.
(82) Yeshua said,
Whoever is near me is near fire,
and whoever is far from me is far from the kingdom.51
(83) Yeshua said,
You see images,
but the light within them is hidden in the image
of the father's light.
He will be disclosed,
but his image is hidden by his light.
(84) Yeshua said,
When you see your likeness you are happy.
But when you see your images that came into being before you
and that neither die nor become visible,
how much you will bear!
(85) Yeshua said,
Adam came from great power and great wealth,
but he was not worthy of you.
Had he been worthy,
he would not have tasted death.
(86) Yeshua said,
Foxes have their dens52 and birds have their nests,
but the human child53 has no place to lay his head and rest.
51. A version of this saying has recently been discovered in a Coptic text (Berlin 22220) now re­ferred
to as the Gospel of the Savior: "If someone is near me, he will burn. I am the fire that
blazes. Whoever is near me is near fire; whoever is far from me is far from life" (see Hedrick
and Mirecki, Gospel of the Savior, pp. 40-41).
52. Partially restored.
53. This common phrase (here in Coptic shere emprome, from the Greek huios tou anthropou)
often is translated "son of man" in other translations of Jewish and Christian texts. Sometimes
it can mean a person, or it can be a way of referring to oneself, "I." Such seems to be the mean­ing
here. At other times (as in the book of Daniel and other similar texts) it may have a more
apocalyptic meaning.

74. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
(87) Yeshua said,
How miserable is the body that depends on a body,
and how miserable is the soul that depends on both.
(88) Yeshua said,
The messengers and the prophets will come to you
and give you what is yours.
You give them what you have and wonder,
"When will they come and take what is theirs?"
(89) Yeshua said,
Why do you wash the outside of the cup?
Don't you understand that the one who made the inside
also made the outside?
(90) Yeshua said,
Come to me, for my yoke is easy and my mastery gentle,
and you will find rest for yourselves.
(91) They said to him,
Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you.
He said to them,
You examine the face of heaven and earth
but you have not come to know the one who is in your presence,
and you do not know how to examine this moment.
(92) Yeshua said,
Seek and you will find.
In the past I did not tell you the things about which you asked me.
Now I am willing to tell you, but you do not seek them.
(93) Do not give what is holy to dogs.
They might throw them upon the manure pile.
Do not throw pearls to swine.
They might... it 54
54- This clause cannot be restored with confidence. Layton, ed., Nag Hammadi Codex 11,2-7,
1:87, notes the following attempts: "They might make mud of it," "They might grind it to bits,"
"They might bring it to naught."

75. 66 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
(94) Yeshua said,
One who seeks will find.
For one who knocks it will be opened.
(95) Yeshua said,55
If you have money, do not lend it at interest,
but give it to someone
from whom you will not get it back.
(96) Yeshua said,
The father's kingdom is like a woman
who took a little yeast, hid it in dough,
and made large loaves of bread.
Whoever has ears should hear.
(97) Yeshua said,
The father's kingdom is like a woman
who was carrying a jar full of meal.
While she was walking along a distant road,
the handle of the jar broke
and the meal spilled behind her along the road.
She did not know it.
She noticed no problem.
When she reached her house she put the jar down
and found it empty.
(98) Yeshua said,
The father's kingdom is like a person
who wanted to put someone powerful to death.
While at home he drew his sword
and thrust it into the wall
to find out whether his hand would go in.
Then he killed the powerful person.
(99) The students said to him,
Your brothers and your mother are standing outside.
55. Restored.

76. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 67
He said to them,
Those here who do the will of my father
are my brothers and my mother.
They will enter my father's kingdom.
(100) They showed Yeshua a gold coin and said to him,
Caesar's people demand taxes from us.
He said to them,
Give Caesar the things that are Caesar's,
give god the things that are god's,
and give me what is mine.
(101) Those who do not hate their father and mother as I do
cannot be my students,
and those who do not love their father and mother as I do
cannot be my students.
For my mother...
but my true mother gave me life.56
(102) Yeshua said,
Shame on the Pharisees.
They are like a dog sleeping in the cattle manger.
It does not eat or let the cattle eat.
(103) Yeshua said,
Blessings on you if you know where the robbers will enter
so you can wake up, rouse your estate,
and arm yourself before they break in.
(104) They said to Yeshua,
Come let us pray today and fast.
Yeshua said,
What sin have I committed
or how have I been undone?
56. This saying is partially restored. The clause "For my mother ..." cannot be restored with
confidence. One possibility is: "For my mother gave me falsehood" (Coptic tamaau gar entas[ti
naei empcjol; see Layton, ed., Nag Hammadi Codex 11,2-7,1:89). Another possibility: "For my
mother brought me forth."

77. 68 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
When the bridegroom leaves the wedding chamber,
then let the people fast and pray.
(105) Yeshua said,
Whoever knows the father and the mother
will be called the child of a whore.
(106) Yeshua said,
When you make two into one,
you will become human children.
When you say, "Mountain, move,"
the mountain will move.
(107) Yeshua said,
The kingdom is like a shepherd who had
a hundred sheep.
One of them, the largest, went astray.
He left the ninety-nine and looked for the one until he found it.
After so much trouble he said to the sheep,
"I love you more than the ninety-nine."
(108) Yeshua said,
Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me.
I myself shall become that person,
and the hidden things will be revealed to that one.57
(109) Yeshua said,
The kingdom is like a person who had a treasure hidden in his field.
He did not know it, and when he died, he left it to his son.
The son did not know about it.
He took over the field and sold it.
The buyer was plowing and found the treasure,
and began to lend money at interest to whomever he wished.
(no) Yeshua said,
You who have found the world
and become wealthy,
renounce the world. x
57. This saying recalls saying 13.

78. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
(m) Yeshua said,
The heavens and earth will roll up in your presence
and you who live from the living one will not see death.
Doesn't Yeshua say this?
Whoever has found oneself,
of that person the world is not worthy.
(112) Yeshua said,
Shame on the flesh that depends on the soul.
Shame on the soul that depends on the flesh.
(113) His students said to him,
When will the kingdom come?
Yeshua said,
It will not come because you are watching for it.
No one will announce, "Look, here it is,"
or "Look, there it is."
The father's kingdom is spread out upon the earth
and people do not see it.
(114) Shimon Kefa said to them,
Miryam should leave us.
Females are not worthy of life.
Yeshua said,
Look, I shall guide her to make her male,
so she too may become a living spirit resembling you males.
For every female who makes herself male
will enter the kingdom of heaven.58
58. A somewhat different statement of gender transformation is given at saying 22.

79. 2
The Gospel of John
f I i
• he Gospel of John is the fourth gospel included in the New Testa-
• ment, usually presented after Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Like the
J L . other New Testament gospels, the Gospel of John is a narrative
gospel that offers a portrait of Jesus, whose life concludes with his crucifixion
and resurrection from the dead. Yet this gospel differs remarkably in detail
and message from the other, synoptic New Testament gospels.
Jesus, according to John, is an exalted being who is the incarnate son of god
and is one with god. Jesus is the divine word or reason of god, the logos, who
descends like a falling star from heaven, becomes flesh, and makes his home in
this mortal realm below. As the word of god in human flesh, Jesus performs
mighty deeds, called "signs" in John, which demonstrate his power and great­ness.
These signs most likely come from an earlier source, a gospel of signs,
which meant to highlight the miracles of Jesus. In the Gospel of John these
signs are interpreted in a more spiritual manner, as becomes clear in the story
of Nicodemus. The signs also become the occasion for Jesus to utter long, mys­tical
discourses in which he declares that he himself provides the real meaning
for the signs. Thus Jesus in the Gospel of John commonly speaks in "I am" self-declarations,
a form of speech reminiscent of the divine "I am" of Jewish tradi­tion
and of divine speech in general (note also the use of "I am" statements in
gnostic texts, for example, Thunder). Finally, Jesus is glorified in his death and
returns to the realm above to prepare a place for those who are to follow him.
These features of the portrait of Jesus in the Gospel of John are reminis­cent
of themes found in a number of gnostic sources. It is no wonder, then,
that John is sometimes linked to gnostic religion, or that in its present form

80. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
71
the Secret Book of John is also attributed to John, or that the Valentinian Her-akleon
composed a commentary on the Gospel of John, or that the Acts of
John contains a Round Dance of the Cross with gnostic features, or that the
Cathar Gospel of the Secret Supper is said to be narrated by John. Nor is it
surprising that some scholars understand the Gospel of John to be a gnosti-cizing
gospel or a gospel written within the context of gnostic themes.
The Gospel of John was composed in Greek, probably near the end of the
first century. The references to followers of Jesus being evicted from the syna­gogue
would suggest a date during the last decade or two of the first century.
Like the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of John may also have been written
somewhere in Syria. However, Thomas, the authoritative figure of the Gospel
of Thomas, is subjected to a much more negative evaluation in the Gospel of
John, where he is made to assume the infamous role of "doubting Thomas."
The translation given here presents three excerpts from the Gospel of
John, chapters 1-3,11-12, and 17-21. These excerpts are crucial for understand­ing
how the author of the gospel portrays Jesus and what gnostics found
attractive about that portrayal. This translation, like that of the Gospel of
Thomas, gives Semitic forms of Semitic names, in order to emphasize the Jew­ish
identity of Jesus and his students and the Jewish context of the life of Jesus.
Thus the name Yeshua is used for Jesus and Yohanan for John. For an identifi­cation
of other names, see the notes.
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN'
(Chapter 1)
IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD
In the beginning was the word2
and the word was with god,
1. The Gospel of John: translated by Willis Barnstone from the Greek text of the New Testament.
2. The word (Greek logos), sometimes capitalized as "the Word," is immediately personified as
"he." See parallel in Genesis 1:1. John 1:1-18 is a prologue and is often held to be a separate
poem adapted for the gospel. Logos may be given multiple meanings: the word of god, the
Greek principle of reason ordering the universe, and a kabbalistic principle of the primacy of
creating words and letters of words, before god could speak the universe into being.

81. 72 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
and the word was god.
He was in the beginning with god.
Through him everything came to be
and without the word nothing came to be.
What came to be in him was life
and life was the light of all people
and the light in the darkness shone
and the darkness could not apprehend the light.
YOHANAN CAME TO PROCLAIM LIGHT
There was a man sent from god.
His name was Yohanan.3
He came as a witness in testimony of the light
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify about the light.4
The light was the true light,
which illuminates every person
who comes into the world.
THE LIGHT WAS IN THE WORLD
He was in the world
and through him the world was born,
and the world did not know him.5
He went to his own
and his own did not receive him.6
3. John the baptizer.
4. John was not the light, meaning not Jesus the messiah, but the lamp carrying the light, defin­ing
the baptizer's testifying, prophetic, but secondary role to Jesus.
5. That is, Jesus.
6. The majority of Jews did not recognize Jesus as messiah when he came. Those Jews who did
recognize Jesus, the early messianists, who broke off from mainstream Jewry, were the Christ­ian
Jews (followers of the messiah).

82. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 73
To all who received him
he gave power to become the children of god,
to those who believed in his name,
who were born not from blood
or from the will of the flesh
or from the will of a man,
but were born of god.
THE WORD BECAME FLESH
And the word became flesh
and lived among us.7
And we gazed on his glory,
the glory of the only son born of the father,
who is filled with grace and truth.
YOHANAN TESTIFIES ABOUT YESHUA
Yohanan testified about him and cried out, saying,
"He is the one of whom I said,
'One who will come after me was before me,'
because before me he was.
From his bounty we have all received grace upon grace,
and as the law was given through Moshe,8
grace and truth have come through Yeshua the Galilean.
No one has ever seen god.
Only the one born of god,9
who is in the heart of his father,
he has made him known."
7- God's word became human flesh in the person of Jesus.
8. Moses.
9- Other texts have "only son" (or "only begotten son").

83. 74 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
YOHANAN DENIES BEING THE MESSIAH
And this is the testimony of Yohanan the baptizer when the Jews10 sent priests
and Levites from Yerushalayim11 to ask him, "Who are you?"
And he confessed and made no denial, but confessed,
"I am not the Galilean."
They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?"
He said, "I am not."
"Are you the prophet?"
He answered, "No."
"Who are you? Give us an answer for those who sent us here. What do you
say about yourself?"
He said,
"I am the voice of one crying in the desert.
'Make straight the way of the lord,'
as the prophet Isaiah said."12
Now, they had been sent by the Pharisees. They questioned him and said to
him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Galilean or Elijah or the
prophet?"
He answered them,
"I baptize in water.
Among you stands one you do not know,
one who will come after me,
whose sandal strap I am unworthy to loosen."
All this happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where Yohanan was
baptizing.
10. All the people in these scenes are Jews. The appellation "Jew" here and in most places in
John has two functions: to distinguish Jews who do not believe Jesus to be the son of god from
those who do, and to cast hatred on and condemn the unbelievers to immediate and eternal
punishment. The followers of Jesus were initially few in number among the many sects that
made up the Jewish population. All thought themselves Jews, whether traditional Jews or
Christian Jews. Therefore, naming the Jews as a hated community existing alongside Jesus and
his followers almost certainly reflects the later, competitive period of nascent Christianity,
when the Jews had expelled Christian Jews from the synagogues and when the traditional Jews,
in turn, became the vilified enemy.
11. Jerusalem.
12. Isaiah 40:3.

84. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 75
THE LAMB OF GOD
The next day Yohanan saw Yeshua coming toward him and said,
"Look, the lamb of god who takes away the wrong of the world.
He is the one of whom I have said,
'A man is coming after me who was before me,'
because before me he was.
And I did not know hirn,
but so that he might be known in Israel
is why I came baptizing in water."
SPIRIT DESCENDING LIKE A DOVE
And Yohanan testified, saying,
"I saw the spirit descending like a dove from the sky
and it rested on him and I did not know him,
but the one who sent me to baptize in water said,
'The one on whom you see the spirit descend and rest,
he is the one baptizing in holy spirit.'
And I have seen and I have testified that he is the son of god."
WE HAVE FOUND THE MESSIAH
The next day Yohanan again was standing with two of his students. When he
saw Yeshua walking by, he said, "Look, the lamb of god."
His two students heard him speaking and they followed Yeshua.
And Yeshua turned and saw them following him and said,
"What are you looking for?"
"Rabbi," which translated means teacher,13 "where are you staying?"
He told them,
"Come and see."
So they came and saw where he was staying, and stayed with him that day.
It was about four in the afternoon.
13. This clause and others like it are scribal asides that appear to be a later interpolation whose
purpose is to persuade the reader that "rabbi" meant a teacher or scholar rather than a Jewish
rabbi, whose profession was to lead a congregation and interpret Jewish law. Rabbi is from He­brew
for "my master, great one, teacher."

85. 76 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
One of the two who heard Yohanan and followed him was Andreas,
brother of Shimon Kefa.14 First he found his own brother Shimon and told
him,
"We have found the messiah,"
meaning the anointed.15
He led Shimon to Yeshua.
Looking at him Yeshua said,
"You are Shimon, the son of Yohanan.
You will be called Kefa, meaning 'rock.' "16
YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD
The next day Yeshua wished to go out to Galil.17 He found Philippos18 and said
to him, "Follow me."
Now, Philippos was from Bethsaida, the city of Andreas and Kefa.19 Philip­pos
found Nathanael and said to him, "The one whom Moshe wrote about in
Torah20 and whom the prophets describe, we have found, Yeshua, son of
Yosef,21 from Nazareth."
And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"
"Come and see!" Philippos replied.
Yeshua saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him, "Look, a true Jew,
one in whom there is no cunning."
"How do you know me?" Nathanael said.
Yeshua answered,
"Before Philippos called you,
you were under the fig tree and I saw you."
Nathanael answered,
"Rabbi, you are the son of god,
you are the king of Israel."
14. Andrew and Simon Peter.
15. In Greek, christos.
16. Peter.
17. Galilee.
18. Philip.
19. Andrew and Peter.
20. "The law" in Hebrew is Torah. Torah most commonly means the five books of Moses as well
as the entire Hebrew Bible.
21. Joseph.

86. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 77
Yeshua responded, saying,
"Because I told you I saw you under the fig tree,
do you believe?
You will see even greater things."
And he said to him,
"Truly, truly I say to you,
you will see the sky open
and angels of god ascending and descending
upon the earthly son."22
(Chapter 2)
WINE AND WATER AT A WEDDING
On the third day there was a wedding in Kana23 in Galil, and Yeshua's mother
was there. Yeshua and his students had also been invited to the wedding. And
when the wine gave out, Yeshua's mother said to him, "They have no wine."
Yeshua said to her,
"What is that to me and you, woman?24
My hour has not yet come."
His mother said to the servants, "Do what he tells you."
Now, there were six waterpots of stone standing there for the Jewish cus­tom
of washing,25 each holding two or three measures.26
Yeshua said to them,
"Fill the pots with water."
They filled them to the brim.
And he said to them,
"Now pour some of the water out
and take it to the master of the feast."
They took it.
22. Or "human son," "son of man," throughout the text.
24. The gruff use of "woman," rather than "lady," is softened in many translations.
25. Washing hands in rite of purification.
26. Twenty or thirty gallons.

87. 78 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
When the master of the feast tasted the water become wine, not knowing
where it came from—though the servants knew, those who had drawn the
water—he called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everybody serves the good
wine first, and when the guests are drunk brings out the inferior kind. You
have been saving the good wine till now."
Yeshua did this, the first of his miraculous signs in Kana in Galil, and he re­vealed
his glory, and his students believed in him.
DAYS IN KEFAR-NAHUM WITH
FAMILY AND STUDENTS
After this he went down to Kefar-Nahum27 with his mother and brothers and
students. They stayed there for a few days.
DRIVING VENDORS FROM THE TEMPLE
It was almost Pesach28 of the Jews and Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim. In the
temple he found the people selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the coin
changers sitting there. He made a whip out of ropes and drove out all the ani­mals,
the sheep and the oxen. He also scattered the coins of the changers and
knocked over their tables. To the dove sellers he said,
"Get these things out of here!
Do not make the house of my father
a house of business!"
His students remembered how it is written,
"Zeal for your house will consume me."29
Then the Jews said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?"
Yeshua answered,
"Destroy this temple
and in three days I shall raise it up."
Then the Jews said, "This temple was built over forty-six years, and you will
raise it up in three days?"
27. Capernaum.
28. Passover.
29. Psalm 69:9.

88. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 79
But he was speaking about the temple of his body. After he was raised from
the dead, his students remembered what he said and they believed the scrip­ture
and the word that Yeshua said.
When he was in Yerushalayim during the Pesach suppers, many people be­lieved
in his name, seeing the wondrous signs he was doing. But Yeshua would
not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and because he had no
need to have anyone testify about a person and he knew what was in a person.
(Chapter 3)
NIKODEMOS QUESTIONS YESHUA
Now, there was a Pharisee named Nikodemos,30 a leader of the Jews. He came
to Yeshua at night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you came as a teacher from
god since no one can perform these wondrous signs if god were not with him.
Yeshua answered,
"Truly, truly I say to you,
unless you are born from above
you cannot see the kingdom of god."
"How can one be born when one is old?" he asked. "One cannot enter a
mother's womb a second time and be born."
Yeshua answered,
"Truly, truly I say to you,
unless you are born from water and the wind of god31
you cannot enter the kingdom of god.
What is born from the flesh is flesh,
what is born from the wind is wind.
Do not wonder that I told you
you must be born again from above.
The wind blows where it wants to and you hear its sound,
but you cannot know where it comes from and where it goes.
So it is for everyone born from the wind of god."
30. Nicodemus.
31. Or "the spirit of god."

89. 8o EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
"How can these things happen?" Nikodemos asked.
Yeshua said to him,
"You are the teacher of Israel and do you not know this?
Truly, truly I say to you,
we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen,
yet you do not receive our testimony.
If I tell you of earthly things and you do not believe,
how if I tell you of heavenly things will you believe?
And no one has gone up into the sky
except the one who came down from the sky, the earthly son.
And as Moshe raised up the snake in the desert,
the earthly son must be raised up
so that all who believe in him will have eternal life.
"God loved the world so much that he gave his only son,
so that all who believe in him might not be destroyed
but have eternal life.
For god did not send his son into the world
to judge the world
but so that through him the world might be saved.
One who believes in him is not judged,
but one who does not believe is judged already
for not believing in the name of god's only son.
And this is the judgment:
that the light came into the world
and people loved the darkness rather than the light,
for their works were cunning.
For all who do paltry things32 hate the light
and do not come toward the light
so that their works will not be exposed.
But those who do the truth come toward the light
so that their works may shine as accomplished through god."33
32. The Greek means "slight" or "paltry" rather than "evil" or "wrong."
33. The gnostics made similar distinctions between darkness and light and emphasized light as
spiritual knowledge and salvation.

90. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 81
YESHUA BAPTIZES IN YEHUDA
After this Yeshua and his students came into the land of Yehuda.34 He stayed
there with them and baptized.
Yohanan also was baptizing in Ainon near Salim, since there were many
waters there, and the people came and were baptized. Yohanan had not yet
been thrown into prison.
There was a dispute between Yohanan's students and a Jew35 about cere­monial
washing. They came toward Yohanan and said, "Rabbi, the one who
was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, look, he is baptizing all
who come to him."
Yohanan answered,
"No one can receive anything
unless it comes from heaven.
You are my witnesses that I have said,
'I am not the messiah
but I am sent before him.'
"He who has the bride is the groom.
The groom's friend who stands near and hears him
is filled with joy at the groom's voice.
So my happiness is completed.
He must increase and I be diminished.
"The one who comes from above is above all.
The one who is of the earth is of the earth
and speaks from the earth.
The one who comes from the sky is above all.
To what he has seen and heard he testifies,
yet his testimony no one receives.
Who receives his testimony proves that god is true.
Whom god sent speaks the words of god,
for the wind of spirit he gives out is beyond measure.
The father loves the son and has given all things into his hand.
34. Judea.
35. In this context a Jew means a person from Judea as opposed to another region of Israel.

91. 82 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
Who believes in the son has eternal life,
but one who disbelieves the son will not see life.
The wrath of god remains upon him."
(Chapter 11)
THE RESURRECTION OF ELEAZAR
There was a man who was sick, Eleazar36 from Bethany, from the village of
Miryam37 and Martha her sister. It was Miryam who anointed the lord with oil
of myrrh and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Eleazar was sick. So the
sisters sent word to him, saying, "Lord, look, one whom you care for is sick."
When Yeshua heard this, he said,
"This sickness is moving not to death
but to the glory of god,
so that through it the son of god
may be glorified."
Now, Yeshua loved Martha and his sister and Eleazar. So when he heard
that he was sick, he remained in the place where he was for two days. After this
he said to his students,
"Let us go to Yehuda again."
His students said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone
you and are you going there again?"
Yeshua replied,
"Are there not twelve hours in the day?
Whoever walks around in the day does not stumble
since one sees the light of this world.
Whoever walks around in the night does stumble
since the light is not in that person."
These things he said, and then he told them,
"Our friend Eleazar has fallen asleep,
but I am going there to awaken him."
36. Lazarus.
37. Mary.

92. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 83
So the students said, "Sir, if he has fallen asleep, he will be cured."38
Yeshua had spoken about his death, but they thought he was talking about
restful sleep.
Then Yeshua told them plainly,
"Eleazar died, and I am happy for you
that I was not there so that you may believe.
But now let us go to him."
Toma,39 who was called the twin, said to his fellow students, "Let us also go
so that we may die with him."
When Yeshua arrived, he found that Eleazar had already been four days in the
tomb. Now, Bethany was near Yerushalayim, about two miles away, and many
of the Jews had come to console Martha and Miryam for their brother. When
Martha heard that Yeshua was coming, she went out to meet him, but Miryam
sat in her house. Then Martha said to Yeshua, "Sir, if you had been here my
brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask god, god
gives you."
Yeshua said to her,
"Your brother will rise again."
Martha said to him,
"I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day."
Yeshua said to her,
"I am the resurrection and the life.
Those who believe in me even if they die
will live.
And everyone who lives and believes in me
will not die into eternity.
Do you believe this?"
She said to him,
"Yes, lord. I believe that you are the messiah,
the son of god, who is coming into this world."
After she said this, she left and called her sister Miryam, telling her secretly,
"The teacher is here and calls for you."
38. Or "he will be saved" or "preserved." Both cure and salvation are implicit.
39. Thomas.

93. 84 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
When that woman heard, she got up quickly and came to him.
Now, Yeshua had not yet come into the village, and he was still at the place
where Martha had met him.
The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Miryam
quickly get up and go out, and they followed her, thinking that she was going
to the tomb to weep there. Miryam came to where Yeshua was, and seeing him
she fell at his feet, saying to him, "Sir, if you had been here my brother would
not have died."
When Yeshua saw her weeping and that the Jews who had come with her
were weeping, he raged at his own spirit, harrowed himself, and said,
"Where have you laid him?"
They said to him, "Sir, come and see."
Yeshua wept.
Then the Jews were saying, "See how he loved him."
But some of them said, "Couldn't he who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so this man wouldn't die?"
Yeshua again raged inwardly and went to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
Yeshua said,
"Lift the stone."
The sister of the one who died, Martha, said to Yeshua,
"Lord, he already stinks. It's the fourth day."
Yeshua said to her,
"Did I not tell you that if you believed
you would see the glory of god?"
So they lifted the stone.
Yeshua lifted his eyes up and said,
"Father, I thank you for hearing me,
and I know that you always hear me
but because of the crowd that is around me
I spoke so they would believe you sent me."
After saying this, in a great voice he cried out,
"Eleazar, come out!"
The one who had died came out, bound feet and hands in grave clothes
and his face wrapped around in a cloth.
Yeshua said to them,
"Untie him and let him go."

94. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 85
THE JEWS PLOT TO KILL YESHUA
Then many of the Jews who had come to Miryam and seen what he did be­lieved
in him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them
what Yeshua had done.
So the high priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin40
and said, "What can we to do about this man who is performing so many
miraculous signs? If we leave him like this, everyone will believe in him, and
the Romans will come and take away our holy place and nation."
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest for that year, said to them,
"You know nothing. You haven't understood that it is better for one man to die
for the sake of the people and not have the whole nation destroyed."
This he did not say on his own, but as high priest for that year he prophe­sied
that Yeshua would die for the sake of the nation, and not only for the na­tion
but so that he might bring together the scattered children of god.
From that day on they planned to kill him.
So Yeshua no longer walked openly among the Jews but went away from
there to the country near the desert, to a city called Ephraim, and he stayed
there with the students.
Now, the Pesach of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to
Yerushalayim before Pesach to purify themselves. They were looking for
Yeshua and said to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you
think? That he won't come to the festival?"
But the high priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew
where he was, he should report it so they might seize him.
(Chapter 12)
MIRYAM ANOINTS YESHUA'S FEET
Six days before the Pesach, Yeshua came to Bethany where Eleazar was, whom
he had raised from the dead. So they prepared a supper for him, and Martha
40. Council.

95. 86 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
served, and Eleazar was one of those reclining at the table with him. Then
Miryam took a pound of spikenard ointment, pure and precious, anointed the
feet of Yeshua, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was full of the
fragrance of the unguent.
Yehuda of Kerioth,41 one of his students, who was about to betray him,
said, "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii42 and given
to the poor?" But he said this not because he cared about the poor, but because
he was a thief and he was the keeper of the money box and was removing what
was dropped into it.
So Yeshua said,
"Let her be, so she may keep it for the day of my burial.
The poor you always have with you,
but me you do not always have."43
THE HIGH PRIESTS PLOT TO KILL ELEAZAR
Then a great crowd of Jews learned that he was there, and they came, not only
because of Yeshua but also to see Eleazar, whom he had raised from the dead.
But the high priests planned also to kill Eleazar since because of him many of
the Jews were going away and believing in Yeshua.
YESHUA ENTERS YERUSHALAYIM
On the next day the great crowd that came to the festival heard that Yeshua
was coming to Yerushalayim. They took palm branches and went out to meet
him and, as in Psalms, they cried,
"Hosanna!
Blessings on him who comes in the name of the lord,
the king of Israel."44
And Yeshua found a young donkey and was seated on it just as it is written,
41. Judas Iscariot.
42. Three hundred denarii could be a year's wages.
43. Similar stories about anointing Jesus' body appear in Mark and Luke. In Mark, it is the
house of Simon the leper, not Lazarus. The grumbling about the money wasted on anointing
Jesus that might have gone to the poor is voiced by unnamed diners, not Judas. In Luke the
scene is more erotic, there is also a Simon, the speech about the poor is almost the same, and
Judas is not mentioned.
44. Psalm 118:25-26.

96. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 87
"Do not fear, daughter of Zion.
Look, your king is coming,
sitting on a foal of a donkey."45
His students did not understand these things at first, but when Yeshua was
glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him
and these things had been done for him.
The crowd that was with him when he raised Eleazar from the tomb bore
witness to it all. That was why the crowd went to meet him, for they heard that
he had performed the miraculous sign.
So the Pharisees said to one another, "You see, you can do nothing. Look,
the world has gone over to him."
YESHUA FORETELLS HIS DEATH
Now, there were some Greek Jews46 among those who went up to worship at
the feast. They came to Philippos from Bethsaida of Galil and asked him, say­ing,
"Sir, we wish to see Yeshua."
Philippos came and told Andreas.
Andreas and Philippos came and told Yeshua.
And Yeshua answered them, saying,
"The hour has come when the earthly son is glorified.47
Truly, truly I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falling into the earth dies,
it remains alone.
But if it dies it brings forth a great harvest.48
"Whoever loves life will lose it,
and whoever hates life in this world
will keep it for life everlasting.
"Let anyone who serves me, follow me,
and where I am, there also will be my servant.
Whoever serves me, the father will honor.
45.Zechariah9:9.
46. Ethnic Greeks who had converted to Judaism.
47. Glorification is the hour of his death, resurrection, and ascension.
48. "Harvest" is literally "fruit." It is often translated "harvest" or "crop," since here it refers
specifically to the fruit of a wheat grain, which would be a harvest or crop.

97. 88 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
"Now my soul is shaken
and what shall I say?
Father, save me from this hour?
But I came for this hour.
Father, glorify your name."
A voice came out of the sky,
"I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."
Then the crowd standing there heard it. They said,
"It has thundered."
Others said,
"An angel has spoken to him."
Yeshua answered and said,
"Not because of me has this voice come
but because of you.
Now is the judgment of the world,
now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
And if I am raised above the earth
I will draw everyone to me."
This he said, signifying what kind of death he was to die.
The crowd answered him, "We heard from the law that the messiah re­mains
forever. How can you say the earthly son must be raised? Who is this
earthly son?"
Yeshua said to them,
"For a little time longer the light is with you.
Walk while you still have the light
so that the darkness may not overtake you.
And the one walking in the darkness
does not know where he is going.
While you have light, believe in the light
so you may be the children of light."
OF THE UNBELIEVERS
Yeshua said this and went away and went into hiding from them. Though he
had performed so many miraculous signs before them, they did not believe in
him so that the word spoken by Isaiah will be fulfilled:
"Lord, who has believed in our message?

98. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 8 9
And to whom was the arm of the lord revealed?"49
This is why they could not believe, because since Isaiah said elsewhere,
"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart
so that they might not see with their eyes
and understand with their heart and turn their mind around
so that I might heal them."50
Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and he spoke about him.
Still, even among the rulers many believed in him, but because of the Phar­isees
they did not admit it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.
They loved human glory more than the glory of god.
But Yeshua cried out and said,
"Who believes in me does not believe in me
but in the one who sent me.
As light into the world I have come
so that who believes in me not reside in darkness.
And who hears my words and does not keep them
I do not judge,
for I have come not to judge the world
but to save the world.
"Who rejects me and will not receive my words
has a judge waiting.
The word I spoke will judge him on the last day.
Because I spoke not from myself but from the one
who sent me,
the father has given me his commandment,
what I should say and how I should speak.
And I know his commandment is life everlasting.
So what I say,
as the father told me, I say it."
49. Isaiah 53:1. See also Romans 10:16.
50. Isaiah 6:10. See also Matthew 13:15, Mark 4:12.

99. 90 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
(Chapter 17)
YESHUA PRAYS TO THE FATHER
Yeshua said this, then raised his eyes to the sky and said,
"Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your son so that your son may glorify you,
as you gave him authority over all flesh51
so he may give life everlasting to all you have given him.
"And this is the life everlasting
so that they may know you, the only true god,
and he whom you sent, Yeshua the anointed.52
I glorified you on earth
by completing the work you gave me to do.
And now glorify me, father, with yourself,
with the glory I had with you before the world was.
"I made your name known to the people
whom you gave me from the world.
They were yours and you gave them to me
and they have kept your word.
Now they know that all you gave me comes from you.
Because the words you gave me I gave them.
And they accepted them,
and they knew the truth that I came from you
and believed that you sent me.
I ask for their sake.
I am asking not for the sake of the world
but for the ones whom you gave me
because they are yours.
And all that is mine is yours and yours is mine
and I am glorified in them.
"And I am no longer in the world
but they are in the world,
51. Here "all flesh" in a larger sense means "all people."
52. Or "the messiah."

100. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
and I am coming to you.
Holy father, keep them in your name,
which you gave me,
so they may be one as we are one.
"When I was with them,
through your name I kept those whom you gave me.
I guarded them and not one of them was lost
except the son of perdition
so that the scripture be fulfilled.
"Now I am coming to you
and these things I say in the world
so my elation be fulfilled in them.
I gave them your word and the world hated them
since they are not of the world
as I am not of the world.
"I do not ask you to take them from the world
but to keep them from the cunning one.53
They are not of this world as I am not of this world.
Sanctify them in the truth.
Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world so I sent them
into the world.
And for them I sanctify myself
so they may also be sanctified in truth.
"I do not ask for them alone,
but for those believing in me through their word
that we may all be one
as you, father, are in me and I in you,
that the world may believe that you sent me.
"The glory you gave me I gave them
so they may be one as we are one,
I in them and you in me
so they may be made perfect as one,
53. Or "from the evil one," "from the devil."

101. 92 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
so the world may know that you sent me
and loved them just as you loved me.
"Father, wherever I am I want the ones you gave me
also to be with me and see my glory,
which you gave me since you loved me
before the foundation of the world.
"Just father, the world did not know who you were,
but I knew you
and these ones knew that you had sent me.
I made your name known to them
and I shall make it known
so the love with which you loved me
may be in them and I in them."
(Chapter 18)
BETRAYAL AND CAPTURE OF YESHUA
After saying these words, Yeshua went out with his students across the ravine54
where there was a garden, which he and his students entered.
Now, Yehuda, who betrayed him, also knew the place, since Yeshua often
met there with his students. Then Yehuda got a band of soldiers and serving
men of the high priests and Pharisees, and went there with lamps and torches
and weapons.
Yeshua, who knew everything that was to happen to him, went out and said
to them,
"Who are you looking for?"
They answered him, "Yeshua the Nazarene."
He said to them,
"I am he."
And they stepped backward and fell to the ground.
So again he answered them,
"I told you that I am he.
If you are looking for me, let these men go."
54. The King James Version gives "brook Cedron." The valley lies east of Jerusalem, on the way
to the Mountain of Olives.

102. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 93
All this happened to fulfill the word he said, "I have not lost one of those
you gave me."
Then Shimon Kefa had a knife and took it out and struck the slave of the high
priest and cut off his right ear. The slave's name was Malchos.
But Yeshua said to Kefa,
"Put your knife back in its sheath.
Shall I not drink the cup the father gave me?"
Then the guard and the commander and servants of the Jews took Yeshua and
bound him. And first they led him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Ca-iaphas,
the high priest for that year. Now, it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews
that it is better for one man to die for the people.
KEFA DISOWNS YESHUA
Shimon Kefa and another student followed Yeshua. And that student, who was
known to the high priest, went with Yeshua into the high priest's court. But
Kefa stayed outside the door. So the other student, an acquaintance of the high
priest, spoke to the doorkeeper and brought Kefa inside.
Then the girl who was at the door said to Kefa, "Aren't you one of that
man's students?"
He said, "I am not."
Now, the slaves and assistants stood around a charcoal fire they had made,
since it was cold and they were warming themselves. Kefa also was standing
there with them, keeping warm.
Then the high priest questioned Yeshua about his students and about his
teaching.
Yeshua replied to him,
"I have spoken openly to the world.
I always taught in a synagogue and in the temple
where all the Jews gather. And in secret
I spoke nothing. Why question me?
Ask those who heard what I said to them.
Look, they know what I said."
When he said this, one of the serving men slapped Yeshua and said, "Is that
how you answer the high priest?"
Yeshua answered him,

103. 94 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
"If I spoke wrong, testify to the wrong.
But if I spoke right, why do you beat me?"
Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Shimon Kefa was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, "Aren't
you also one of his students?"
He denied it and said, "I am not."
One of the high priest's slaves, a relative of the one whose ear Kefa cut off,
said, "Didn't I see you in the garden with him?"
Again Kefa denied it and at once the cock crowed.
YESHUAGOES BEFORE PILATUS
They led Yeshua from Caiaphas to the Praetorium.55 It was early morning.
They didn't enter the Praetorium, so as to avoid defilement that might prevent
them from eating the Pesach meals. So Pilatus56 emerged and said to them,
"What charge do you bring against this man?"
They answered him and said, "Unless he were doing wrong, we would not
have turned him over to you."
Pilatus said to them, "Take him and judge him according to your law."
Then the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death."
This happened to fulfill Yeshua's word when he foretold what kind of death
he was to die.57
Then Pilatus again went into the Praetorium and called Yeshua and said to
him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
Yeshua answered,
"Are you speaking for yourself
or did others tell you about me?"
"Am I a Jew?" Pilatus answered. "Your people and the high priest handed
you over to me. What did you do?"58
55. Governor's house.
56. Pilate.
57. This sentence, a commentary and interpretation interrupting the narration, may be a
scribal interpolation and is usually placed in parentheses or brackets.
58. Pilate's essential question, "What did you do?," would suggest that Pilate was unaware of
wrongdoing. Among historians there is a large consensus that Rome executed Jesus as a sedi-tionist,
as one opposed to Roman occupation. Without historical evidence, Pilate's question is
not plausible. Its consequence is to accuse Jews of initiating Jesus' execution and to emphasize
Rome's unwilling and marginal involvement in it.

104. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 95
Yeshua responded,
"My kingdom is not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world
my servants would have fought to keep me
from being delivered to the Jews.59
But now my kingdom is not here."
Then Pilatus said to him,
"Then you are a king?"
Yeshua answered,
"You say I am a king.
For this I was born
and for this I came into the world
that I might testify to the truth.
Everyone born of truth hears my voice."
Pilatus said to him, "What is truth?"
And after he said this, again he went out to the Jews and told them, "I find no
fault in him. But you have this custom that I should release someone to you at
Pesach. So do you want me to release the king of the Jews?"
They shouted back saying, "Not this man but Barabbas."
Now, Barabbas was a robber.
(Chapter 19)
PILATUS YIELDS TO THE JEWS AND
ORDERS CRUCIFIXION
Then Pilatus took Yeshua and flogged him. And the soldiers wove a wreath out
of thorns and put it on his head and threw a purple robe around him. And
they went up to him and said, "Hail, king of the Jews!"
And they struck him in the face.
And Pilatus again went outside and said to them, "Look, I am bringing him
out to you so you may know that I find no fault in him."
Then Yeshua came out, wearing the wreath of thorns and the purple robe.
59. Here the "we and them" reference to Jews means that the speaker and his supporters, incredi­bly,
are not to be identified as Jews, according to this gospel.

105. 9 6 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
And Pilatus said to them,
"Look at the man."
When the high priests and the serving men saw him, they shouted,
"Crucify, crucify!"
Pilatus said to them, "You take him and crucify him. I find no fault in him."
The Jews answered him, "We have a law and according to that law he
should die, because he made himself son of god."
When Pilatus heard this word, he was more frightened. Again he went back
into the Praetorium and said to Yeshua, "Where are you from?"
But Yeshua didn't answer him.
Then Pilatus told him, "You don't speak to me? Don't you know that I have
the authority to free you and I have the authority to crucify you?"
Yeshua answered him,
"You would have no authority over me at all
were it not given to you from above.
Therefore the one who handed me over to you
has the greater sin."60
Thereupon Pilatus sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If
you free this man, you are not a friend of Caesar! Everyone who makes him­self
a king defies Caesar."
When Pilatus heard these words, he led Yeshua outside and sat on the judg­ment
seat called Stone Pavement, but in Hebrew Gabbatha.
Now, it was Friday, the Preparation Day for Pesach, the sixth hour, which is
noon. He said to the Jews, "Look, here is your king."
Then they shouted, "Take him away, take him away and crucify him!"
Pilatus said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?"
The high priest answered, "We have no king but Caesar."
So he gave him to them to be crucified.61
60. Jesus fully exonerates Pilate, who is acting not through his authority or free will, but by the
authority given to him from the father. The Jews, however, have acted freely and therefore their
sin is greater.
61. Robert J. Miller, in The Complete Gospels, offers the following comment: "The resulting im­plication
that all the Jews/Judeans, or perhaps only some Jewish officials, crucified Jesus—as
Pilate had suggested (v. 6)—is wholly inaccurate. In historical fact, whatever Pilate's view of
Jesus' guilt, it was certainly he who saw to the execution (see v. 19); crucifixion was never prac­ticed
by Jews. The monstrous unreality of this half-verse, if it reads as intended, must be en­tirely
a function of theological or political polemic" (p. 240).

106. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 97
YESHUA IS CRUCIFIED
They took Yeshua. Carrying the cross himself, he went to what was called the
Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is Golgotha, where they crucified him and
two others, one on either side with Yeshua in the middle.
Pilatus wrote a placard and put it on the cross. It read,
YESHUA THE NAZARENE THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Many Jews read the placard because the place where Yeshua was crucified
was near the city. And it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. So the high
priests of the Jews said to Pilatus, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but
write what he said: 'I am king of the Jews.'"
Pilatus answered, "What I've written, I've written."
When the soldiers crucified Yeshua, they took his clothes and divided them in
four parts, one part for each soldier. And they took his tunic too. Now, his
tunic shirt was seamless, woven in one piece from the top straight down. So
they said to each other, "Let's not tear it, but casts lots for it to see whose it will
be. This was to fulfill the words of the scripture, saying,
"They divided my clothes among them
and for my clothes they cast lots."62
That is what the soldiers did.
But near the cross of Yeshua stood his mother and his mother's sister Miryam
of Klopas and Miryam of Magdala.63
Then Yeshua, seeing his mother and the student he loved standing near,
said to his mother,
"Woman, here is your son."64
Then he said to the student,
"Here is your mother."
And from that hour the student took her into his own.65
62. Psalm 22:18.
63. Mary Magdalene.
64. Literally, "Woman, look, your son," which is followed by "Look, your mother." In the synop­tic
gospels, Mary, Jesus' mother, does not appear. Here she appears briefly, but her name goes
unmentioned. The other Marys appear by name.
65. Although "home" or "care" may be the implied translation, it says no more than "He took
her into his own."

107. 98 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
After this Yeshua, knowing that all had been done to fulfill the words of the
scripture, said,
"I am thirsty."66
A jar filled with vinegar67 was lying there. So they put a sponge soaked with
the vinegar on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.
Then when Yeshua had taken the wine, he said,
"It is ended."
And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.68
THE FATE OF YESHUA'S BODY
Since it was Friday the Preparation Day, the Jews asked Pilatus that their legs
be broken and they be taken away so that the bodies would not remain on the
cross on Shabbat.69 The soldiers came and broke the bones of the first man
and then of the other one crucified with him. But when they came to Yeshua
and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the
soldiers stabbed his side with his spear, and at once blood and water came out.
And the one who saw this has testified to it, and the testimony is true, and
he knows he is speaking the truth so that you may also believe.70
These things happened to fulfill the scripture, "No bone of his will be bro­ken."
71 And elsewhere it says, "They will look at him whom they stabbed."72
After these things Yosef of Arimathea,73 being a student of Yeshua, but a se­cret
one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilatus if he could take away Yeshua's body.
Pilatus allowed it.
Then he came and took the body.
Nikodemos came too, the one who first came to him during the night, and
he brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. So they
took the body of Yeshua and wrapped it in aromatic spices in linen cloths, as
is the burial custom of the Jews.
66. Psalm 22:15.
67. This could mean a cheap, sour wine.
68. Or "his breath."
69. Sabbath.
70. In this unusual insertion into the narration, the narrator notes the specific event of blood
and water issuing from Jesus' side and concludes that the event has been witnessed, the testi­mony
is true, and "you may also believe."
71. Psalm 34:20; Exodus 12:36; Numbers 9:12.
72. Zechariah 12:10.
73. Joseph of Arimathea.

108. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 99
Now, in the region where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the
garden a new tomb in which no one had been placed. So because it was the
Friday the Preparation Day of the Jews, and the tomb was near, in it they
placed Yeshua.
(Chapter 20)
YESHUA APPEARS TO MIRYAM OF MAGDALA
On Sunday the first day of the week, Miryam of Magdala came to the tomb
early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been removed from the
tomb. So she ran and came to Shimon Kefa and to the other student whom
Yeshua loved and said to them,
"They took the lord from the tomb
and we don't know where they put him."
Then Kefa and the other student came out and went to the tomb. The two
ran together, but the student ran faster than Kefa and reached the tomb first.
And he stooped down and saw the linen cloths lying there, but didn't go in.
Then Shimon Kefa came, following him, and he went into the tomb and saw
the linen cloths lying there, but the kerchief which had been on his head was
lying not next to the cloths but apart and folded up in its own place. And then
the other student, who had come first to the tomb, saw and believed. They didn't
yet know the scripture that he must rise from the dead.74
Then the students went off to their own places.
But Miryam stood by the tomb, weeping. Then as she was weeping, she
stooped and looked into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there,
one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Yeshua was laid.
And they said to her,
"Woman, why are you weeping?"
She said to them,
"They have taken my lord away
and I don't know where they put him."
74. There is a resurrection of the dead in Isaiah 26:19 and Daniel 12:2. The notion of resurrec­tion
of the dead and immortality of the soul is derived from Jewish apocalyptic literature and
probably the influence of Plato, platonism, and contemporary Greco-Roman notions.

109. 1 0 0 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
Saying this, she turned around and saw Yeshua standing there and didn't
know it was Yeshua.
Yeshua said to her,
"Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him,
"Sir, if you took him away,
tell me where you put him and I will take him."
Yeshua said to her,
"Miryam!"
She turned and said to him in Hebrew,
"Rabbouni!"
(which means teacher).
Yeshua said to her,
"Do not hold on to me,
since I have not yet gone up to the father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
I am ascending to my father and your father
and my god and your god."
Miryam of Magdala went and announced to the students,
"I have seen the lord."
And she told them that he had said these things to her.
YESHUA APPEARS TO THE STUDENTS
So when it was early evening of that first day of the week and the doors of the
house where the students met were locked for fear of the Jews, Yeshua came
and stood in their midst and said to them,
"Peace to you."
And saying this, he showed his hands and his side to them.
The students were overjoyed when they saw the lord.
So Yeshua said to them again,
"Peace to you.
As the father sent me
so I send you."
And saying this, he breathed over them and said to them,
"Receive the holy spirit.

110. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 101
For any whose sins you forgive,
their sins are forgiven.
For any whose sins you do not release,
they are not released."75
DOUBTING TOMA IS CONVINCED
But Toma, who was one of the twelve, called the twin, was not with them when
Yeshua came.
So the other students were saying to him,
"We have seen the lord."
But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and I
put my finger into the place of the nails and I put my hand into his side, I shall
not believe."
After eight days the students were again in the house and Toma with them.
Though the doors were shut, Yeshua stood in their midst and said,
"Peace to you."
Then he said to Toma,
"Bring your fingers here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it in my side,
and do not be without faith but of faith."
Toma answered, saying to him,
"My lord and my god."76
Yeshua said to him,
"Do you believe because you have seen me?
Blessings on those who have not seen and believe."
Yeshua performed many other signs before his students, which have not
been written in this book. But these things were written that you may believe
that Yeshua is the messiah the son of god, and that in believing you may have
life in his name.77
75. This is John's version of the sending of the spirit to the church; see also the Pentecost ac­count
in Acts 2:1-41.
76. These words, "My lord and my god," are the common initial epithet in Hebrew prayer in
addressing god: Adonai elohim.
77- Most scholars say that the gospel concludes here, and what follows is added by the pre­sumed
author or by another.

111. 102 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
(Chapter 21)
YESHUA AT THE SEA OF TIBERIAS
After this, Yeshua again showed himself to the students at the Sea of Tiberias.
And this is how he showed himself. Gathered together were Shimon Kefa and
Toma called the twin and Nathanael from Kana in Galil and the sons of
Zebedee and two other students.
Shimon Kefa said, "I'm going fishing."
They told him, "We're coming with you."
They went out and got into the boat, and all that night caught nothing.
At daybreak Yeshua was standing on the beach. But the students didn't re­alize
that it was Yeshua.
Yeshua said to them,
"Children, have you any fish?"
"No," they answered him.
And he said to them,
"Cast the net in the waters to the right side
of the ship and you will find some."
So they cast, and they weren't strong enough to haul it back in because of
the swarm of fish.
Then that student whom Yeshua loved78 said to Kefa,
"It is the lord."
When Shimon Kefa heard it was the lord, he put on his outer garment, for
he had stripped naked and thrown himself into the sea.
But the other students came in a small boat—they were not far from the
land, about a hundred yards away—dragging the net full of fish.
When they came out on the shore, they saw a charcoal fire and a small fish
placed on it, and bread.
Yeshua said to them,
"Now bring some of the fish you caught."
78. Apparently the unknown student, who ran faster to the empty tomb than Peter and be­lieved
what he saw. When fishing, the beloved student, not Peter, recognized Jesus on the shore.
In the same supplement, however, Peter appears to be elevated to leadership by virtue of his
foretold crucifixion in service of the church.

112. EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS 1 03
So Shimon Kefa went on board and dragged the net onto the land, filled with
big fish, a hundred fifty-three of them, yet with so many the net didn't tear.
Yeshua said to them,
"Come have breakfast."
None of the students dared ask, "Who are you?" knowing that it was the
lord.
Yeshua came and took the bread and gave it to them, and also the fish.
This was already the third time that Yeshua appeared to the students after
he was raised from the dead.
YESHUA QUESTIONS SHIMON KEFA'S LOVE
So when they had breakfasted, Yeshua said to Shimon Kefa,
"Shimon son of Yohanan, do you love me
more than they do?"
Shimon said to him, "Yes, lord, you know that I love you."
Yeshua said to him,
"Feed my lambs."
He asked Shimon a second time,
"Shimon son of Yohanan, do you love me?"
Shimon said, "Yes, lord, you know that I love you."
He said to Shimon son of Yohanan for the third time,
"Do you love me?"
Kefa was hurt that he had asked him for the third time, "Do you love me?"
And he said to him, "Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you."79
Yeshua replies,
"Graze my sheep."
YESHUA FORETELLS SHIMON KEFA'S DEATH
And he said to him,
"Truly, truly I say to you,
when you were younger,
you fastened your own belt
and walked about where you wished.
79. Peter's threefold profession of love parallels his earlier threefold denial.

113. 104 EARLY WISDOM GOSPELS
But when you grow old
you will stretch out your hands
and another will fasten your belt
and take you where you do not wish to go." 80
This he said, signifying by what death he would glorify god.
After he said this, he told him,
"Follow me."
THE AUTHOR REVEALED
Kefa turned and saw the student whom Yeshua loved following them, the one
who also lay next to his chest at the supper and who had said, "Who is betray­ing
you?"
When Kefa saw him, he said to Yeshua, "Lord, what about him?"
Yeshua said to Kefa,
"If I want him to stay until I come,
what is that to you?
Follow me."
So word went out to the brothers that the student would not die. But
Yeshua did not tell Kefa that the student would not die, but rather,
"If I want him to stay until I come,
what is that to you?"
This is the student who testifies to these things and who has written these
things, and we know that his testimony is true.
And there are many other things that Yeshua did. If they were written down
one by one, I think the world itself would not have room to hold the books
that would be written.
80. This passage suggests Peter's later crucifixion in Rome, and while there is no information
on how Peter got to Rome, there is archeological evidence of a shrine to Peter in an ancient
cemetery under the basilica of Saint Peter in Rome.

114. PART TWO
Literature of
Gnostic Wisdom

116. INTRODUCTION
MARVIN MEYER
he sacred literature of gnostic wisdom offers some of the most beautiful,
enlightening, and disturbing mystical poetry and prose in all religious litera­ture.
The selection presented here consists of twenty-nine texts, some consid­ered
classics of gnostic spirituality, that represent varieties of gnostic religions
in the Mediterranean region during the early centuries of the common era. Of
the many texts that might have been included in this part of the volume, we
have selected texts that are not only representative of major options in gnostic
spirituality but also well preserved and attractive as literature. These texts il­lustrate
early gnostic, Sethian, Valentinian, Syrian, and other varieties of gnos­tic
religions, yet there are points of similarity and connection among them. All
of the texts are concerned with wisdom and knowledge; many of them trace
the fortunes (and misfortunes) of wisdom—personified as Hokhmah or
Sophia—in the context of gnostic themes. Here, as in the wisdom literature
discussed above, the figure of wisdom remains a focal point of attention, but
now wisdom is radicalized, and reflects the very nature of gnosticism by em­bracing
the tragedy and hope of the human experience. In these texts wisdom
creates and reveals, falls and is restored, saves and is saved. And with divine
wisdom, these texts proclaim, fallen human beings too are saved and restored.
THE BOOK OF BARUCH
The church fathers and heresiologists describe, in polemical terms, a number
of figures whom they consider to be early gnostic teachers: Simon Magus, a
first-century teacher from Samaria; Dositheos and Menander, also from
Samaria; Cerinthos, Carpocrates, Saturnilus, Marcellina, and a few others.
About these figures we know only what the heresiologists choose to tell us,
and they choose to tell us little more than that these teachers proclaimed
error and impiety.

117. io 8 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
About the writings of the gnostic teacher Justin, however, we know some­what
more, thanks to Hippolytus of Rome. In his Refutation of All Heresies,
Hippolytus cites and paraphrases a gnostic text composed by Justin, the Book
of Baruch, although Hippolytus says it is the most abominable book he has
read. From Hippolytus's citations we learn enough to reconstruct large frag­ments
of Justin and his book. Kurt Rudolph describes the Book of Baruch as
"one of the most original and probably also the oldest testimonies of Gnosis." *
Strongly Jewish in its perspective, the book seems to propose a gnostic system
that is one of the earliest representations of gnosis. Robert Grant calls it "an ex­ample
of a gnosis that is almost purely Jewish,"2 though in its present form, the
book also incorporates references to Greco-Roman deities, as well as to Jesus.
The Book of Baruch presents a gnostic system with three principles, two
that are male and one that is female. The most exalted manifestation of the di­vine
is called the Good, a male power; he is also called Priapos, the Greco-
Roman ithyphallic fertility god. The other powers take their names from
Hebrew tradition, the male Elohim from the Hebrew word for "god" and the
female Edem from the Hebrew for "earth."3 The female principle Edem is
reminiscent of wisdom, Sophia, and she has many characteristics in the Book
of Baruch: she is earth; garden; Israel; creator of humans, beasts, and the soul;
and a symbol of Eve, who is her creation and double.
The story of Baruch is a tale of the love of Elohim and Edem, heaven and
earth, love that is expressed and is lost, with the author, Justin, employing
themes from Genesis to tell his gnostic story of the fate of humanity and the
emergence of evil in the world. Elohim, the heavenly father god and the cre­ator
of the world, is the lover of Edem, the earthly mother goddess. From their
impassioned sexual union come twenty-four angelic children, and the angels
in turn create humankind and paradise. These twenty-four angels seem to an­ticipate
the more developed portrayals of the realm of the divine fullness, or
pleroma, in Sethian and Valentinian gnostic systems. Elohim breathes spirit
(Greek pneuma) into Adam, and Edem breathes soul (Greek psyche). Baruch
(Hebrew for "blessed") is the good tree of life and the chief paternal angel, and
Naas (from nahash, Hebrew for "serpent")4 is the evil tree of the knowledge of
good and evil and the chief maternal angel.
i. Rudolph, Gnosis, 145.
2. Grant, Gnosticism and Early Christianity, 19.
3. The spelling Edem is used for Eden, as in the garden of Eden in Genesis, both in the Book of
Baruch and in the Septuagint translation of Genesis-hence also in our translation here.
4. i>ee the use of Naas among the Naassenes in this volume.

118. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 109
Elohim ascends to the Good in "the highest part of heaven" and becomes
aware of "what eye has not seen or ear heard or what has not entered the
human heart."5 With this awareness of the grandeur of the divine, Elohim
proposes that he destroy the world he made and take back his spirit impris­oned
among people there, but the Good does not allow it. Instead, Elohim
stays above, on high, and Edem, abandoned down below, brings all sorts of
evil upon the spirit of Elohim within people.
The lovers' quarrel between Elohim and Edem continues through human
history. Elohim sends the angel Baruch to "comfort the spirit living in all
people." Baruch tries to solicit the aid of Moses, the Hebrew prophets, and
even the prophet Herakles (Hercules), all in vain. Finally Elohim sends
Baruch to Nazareth, and he "found Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary, feeding
sheep, a boy of twelve, and he told him everything that had happened from
the beginning, from Edem and Elohim and all that will be. He said, 'All the
prophets before you were seduced, but Jesus, earthly son, try not to be se­duced,
and preach the word to people and tell them about the father and the
Good, and ascend to the Good and sit with Elohim, father of us all.'" The
story of the Book of Baruch concludes, according to the account in Hippoly-tus,
with allegorical interpretations that connect portions of the gnostic
story with Greco-Roman mythology.
SETHIAN LITERATURE
The name Sethian denotes a body of gnostic texts and myths that give promi­nence
to Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve. Because a second divine entity,
often named Barbelo, the divine forethought and revealer, also figures in these
texts and myths, heresiologists nicknamed the gnostics who produced them
Barbeloites and Barbelognostics, designations still used by modern scholars.
Bentley Layton, as we noted in the general introduction to this volume, em­phasizes
that these religious figures called themselves gnostics, and he refers to
their writings as "classic gnostic scriptures." In the sacred texts included here,
the ancient authors refer to spiritually enlightened people like themselves as
"the unshakable race of perfect humankind" or "the offspring (or seed) of
Seth." Hence, for the sake of convenience we shall call these gnostics Sethians.
The Sethians understood themselves to be children of Adam and Eve,
through Seth. Adam and Eve were the first parents, through whom the divine
5. See Gospel of Thomas 17.

119. 110 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
light is communicated to enlightened gnostics. Genesis hints that Seth marked
a new beginning for humanity after the violence that plagued the relation­ship
of the brothers Cain and Abel. In Genesis 4, Cain is described as killing
his brother Abel and being banished for his act of murder; in the Secret Book
of John, Cain and Abel are said to have been fathered by the seductive first
ruler Yaldabaoth, who defiled Eve sexually to get her pregnant. In Genesis
4:25, in the Septuagint, Seth is said to be sperma heteron, "another seed," in
place of the dead Abel. The gnostics, in turn, described themselves as "an­other
race," the offspring or seed of Seth. Another gnostic text, part of which
is presented below, is mentioned by Porphyry as a gnostic text known to his
teacher Plotinos, and is entitled Allogenes, "Foreigner," literally "One from
Another Race."
The sacred literature of the Sethians features a mythological narrative that
provides a reinterpretation of the opening chapters of Genesis. Several of the
Sethian texts included here reflect features of this mythological narrative, but
one of the most compelling of the presentations of the myth is to be found in
the Secret Book of John. Although in its present form, in the versions of the
Secret Book of John that have been preserved in the Nag Hammadi library
and the Berlin Gnostic Codex 8502, the myth is recounted in a Christianized
form, the literary evidence (more obvious in the Coptic) suggests that the
myth derives from a hellenistic Jewish gnostic tradition that was in dialogue
with Greek mythological and philosophical traditions, particularly Greek
philosophical traditions going back to Plato.6 This Hellenistic Jewish telling of
the gnostic creation myth describes the origin, fall, and restoration of the
light, the light within gnostics and the light within god. The cast of characters
in the myth, some of whom are known from Genesis, appear within the
Sethian texts given here. The original divine entity is the infinite One, the in­visible
spirit (revealed as the transcendent One in the Secret Book of John and
the Vision of the Foreigner). From the One emanates the divine forethought
Barbelo, and together the One and Barbelo produce a divine child, to form an
exalted triad or trinity. With the divine in the fullness or pleroma of divinity
are four luminaries, Harmozel, Oroiael, Daveithai, and Eleleth, along with
Geradamas (Adam the stranger) and his son Seth. Mother Sophia—herself an
eternal realm connected with Eleleth—miscalculates (her motives are de­scribed
in different ways), and from her mistake comes her arrogant son, the
demiurge and creator of the world named Yaldabaoth, Sakla, or Samael. At
6. Philo of Alexandria gives another example of Jewish interpretation of Genesis shaped by
platonic concerns.

120. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 111
this point in the myth humans enter into the plot, especially Adam, Eve, Cain,
Abel, Seth, and Seth's offspring, the gnostics themselves.
Of the gnostic texts included in this volume,7 most of the texts designated
as Sethian exhibit clear Sethian affinities. Thunder is less obviously Sethian
(or gnostic, for that matter), but we classify it, tentatively, as a Sethian gnostic
text (with Bentley Layton), for several reasons. First is its concern for wisdom
and knowledge, and its resemblance to portions of the statement of divine
transcendence at the beginning of the Secret Book of John. In Thunder, the "I
am" self-declarations, with their paradoxical formulations, reveal a female
deity who comes from above to the human realm. She is called life (as Eve is
called "the mother of all living" in Genesis 3:20), and she is wisdom and
knowledge, and thus she resembles the female deities who appear in a number
of roles and accomplish a number of tasks in the Secret Book of John and
other Sethian texts: forethought, wisdom, life (Eve), and especially after­thought
(epinoia), which is specifically mentioned in Thunder.
The Letter of Peter to Philip incorporates various traditions into a text that
resembles the New Testament or apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, but the rev­elation
about the deficiency of divine light brought about by the fall of Sophia,
though tersely presented, contains elements that bring to mind the Sophia
myth of the Secret Book of John. In the Letter of Peter to Philip, like the Secret
Book of John, the problem in the eternal realms stems from the mother, whose
disobedience leads her to act independently of the father. She produces a
child, an arrogant one, who steals power from his mother, establishes a bu­reaucracy
of ignorant cosmic administrators, and collaborates in the creation
of mortal human beings. This human creation is based, however, upon a mis­representation
of the image of the divine that had appeared. For, in words that
closely parallel Gospel of Thomas 72, the creator wished to make "an image in
place of an image and a form in place of a form" (see also Genesis 1:26).
VALENTINIAN LITERATURE
One of the two great gnostic teachers of the second century whom we know
by name is Valentinos. The other is Basilides, who was a contemporary of
Valentinos but who is given little attention in this volume because he is known
7. Additional Sethian texts not included in this volume on account of their fragmentary charac­ter
or their length include Melchizedek (Nag Hammadi Codex IX,J), the Thought of Norea
(IX,2), Marsanes (X), perhaps Hypsiphrone (XI,4), and the untitled text from the Bruce Codex.
Other mythological texts with some similarities to Sethian mythological texts include On the
Origin of the World and the Paraphrase of Shem, both presented below.

121. 112 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
only through fragments preserved in and discussions included in the heresiol-ogists.
Suffice it to say that Basilides was a successful early second-century
gnostic teacher in the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria, Egypt, and Valentinos
must have known of his teachings while he was there. Another well-known
teacher of the second century is Marcion, whom we discussed briefly in the
general introduction to this volume. On account of his theological dualism,
with its critical stance toward the Jewish god, the Hebrew Bible, and the world
in general, Marcion sometimes is called a gnostic, though we do not under­stand
him to be an advocate of a religion of gnosis, as we noted above.
Valentinos was an Egyptian born in the Nile delta around the beginning of
the second century. A convert to Christianity, Valentinos was educated in
Alexandria, and he learned about Greek philosophy, Christian thinking (most
likely including that of Basilides), and hellenistic Jewish methods of reading
and interpreting the scriptures. He also seems to have been influenced by the
Sethian gnostics of his time. Bentley Layton supports this by citing Irenaeus's
observation: "Valentinos adapted the fundamental principles of the so-called
gnostic school of thought [Layton's classic gnostics] to his own kind of sys­tem."
8 Valentinos went on to Rome, where he was caught up in theological
and ecclesiastical affairs in the Christian community there. The heresiologist
Tertullian maintained that Valentinos hoped to become bishop of Rome—or,
we might say, his century's equivalent of the pope. Valentinos proved to be a
brilliant teacher, and among his followers several continued his gnostic
thought in their own literary works. This volume contains the best of their ef­forts.
Of Valentinos's own writings little survives. Among the Valentinian texts
presented here only the mystical meditation entitled the Gospel of Truth may
have been composed by Valentinos himself.9 Of the other literary works of
Valentinos, a fragment of a poem, "Summer Harvest," survives in the writings
of the heresiologist Hippolytus:
Through spirit I see that all are suspended,
through spirit I know that all are conveyed,
flesh suspended from soul,
soul depending on air,
air suspended from atmosphere.
8. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.11.1.
9- Kurt Rudolph, incidentally, disagrees with this suggestion {Gnosis, 319).

122. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 113
From the depth come crops,
from the womb comes a child.10
Valentinian thought, as intimated in the poetic fragment from Valentinos,
is based upon bythos or bathos, divine depth. In the words of the Gospel of
Truth, the person of knowledge, the gnostic revealer, "has turned many from
error. He went before them to their own places, from which they departed
when they erred because of the depth of him who surrounds every place,
whereas there is nothing which surrounds him." Again, later in the Gospel of
Truth, "This is the perfection in the thought of the father and these are the
words of his reflection. Each one of his words is the work of his will alone, in
the revelation of his word. Since they were in the depth of his mind, the word,
who was the first to come forth, caused them to appear, along with an intellect
which speaks the unique word by means of a silent grace."
From depth emanates the pleroma of divinity, organized as (at least) fif­teen
pairs of beings, or couples, for a total of (at least) thirty eternal realms
(aeons). All are suspended, all are held in the fullness of the divine, as the
poem of Valentinos shows. While different names are assigned to the eternal
realms in the different versions of the Valentinian scheme of things, the first
two groups of four (tetrads) are most prominent. The resultant realm of eight
(ogdoad), according to Irenaeus, looks like this:
depth and thought (ennoia)
or grace
or silence
mind (nous) and truth
or only child (monogenes)
word (logos) and life (zoe)
human being and church
A number of these eternal realms resemble the eternal realms in the Secret
Book of John and other Sethian texts, as does Sophia, the last of the Valentin­ian
eternal realms. Through ignorance or error Sophia falls from grace and
disturbs the divine order, and two other eternal realms, Christ and holy spirit,
10. Hippolytus> Refutation of All Heresies 6.37.7.

123. 114 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
are brought forth to deal with the disturbance. Christ helps restore Sophia to
the pleroma, but her desire is expelled outside the pleroma, and it becomes
another Sophia, a lower wisdom called Achamoth (a name that resembles
Hokhmah, the Hebrew word for "wisdom"—see the Gospel of Philip). Jesus
the savior in turn is brought forth to heal Achamoth through knowledge, but
her passions are also set aside, destined to be elements used for the creation
of the cosmos. In Valentinian thought the mythic drama thus takes place at
two levels, above and below, and the integrity of the divine fullness itself
is protected by means of a limit or boundary (hows)—hence the need for
Sophia above and Achamoth below, and Christ above and Jesus below. A
mythic drama that takes place above and below also may be observed in the
Secret Book of John and other Sethian texts, with forethought above and
afterthought below, Geradamas above and Adam below, and heavenly Seth
above and earthly Seth, and the Sethian gnostics, below. From these experi­ences
of wisdom in Valentinian thought come three sorts of elemental stuff
that characterize life, including human life, in the world: the material, the
psychical, and the spiritual. Human beings, then, are divided into three
groups in Valentinian thought: hylics—material people of flesh and blood
who are unbelievers; psychics—psychical people, people with soul, who are
ordinary Christians; and pneumatics—truly spiritual people, people with di­vine
spirit, who are gnostics. These last are the Valentinians themselves.
All in all, Valentinian thought shows a complexity in its gnostic scheme that
builds upon previous gnostic reflections, especially Sethian reflections, and in­corporates
Greek philosophical observations, especially platonic observations.
There is variety in Valentinian expression—for example, scholars sometimes
distinguish between a Western or Italic branch and an eastern branch—and
there is subtlety and insight in the theological and exegetical formulations of
Valentinian teachers.
While most of the texts included here are unquestionably Valentinian, the
Secret Book of James and the Round Dance of the Cross are much less cer­tainly
so, as explained in the introductions to those texts.11
11. Other Valentinian texts and fragments of texts are also known, including fragments and dis­cussions
in the heresiologists, Excerpts of Theodotus, the Tripartite Tractate (Nag Hammadi
Codex 1,5), the Interpretation of Knowledge (XI,i), and a Valentinian Exposition (XI,2). The
Testimony of Truth (IXj) also has echoes as well as criticism of Valentinian thought and prac­tice.
Birger Pearson suggests the possibility that Julius Cassianus may have been the author of
this text.

124. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 115
THOMAS AND OTHER SYRIAN LITERATURE
In addition to the Gospel of Thomas, which is included in Part One of this vol­ume,
three additional texts representing the tradition of Syrian spirituality in
general and (in two instances, at least) Judas Thomas in particular are included
in this part of the volume: the Songs of Solomon, the Song of the Pearl, and the
Book of Thomas. None of these texts is unequivocally gnostic, but all proclaim
a mystical wisdom and knowledge that illustrate the religious milieu of Syria
and northern Mesopotamia during the early centuries of the common era.
These texts also are documents that had a considerable influence on the devel­opment
of religions, including gnostic religions. The great New Testament
scholar Rudolf Bultmann used the Songs (or Odes) of Solomon to show what
he considered to be the background of another document from Syria, the
Gospel of John. Likewise, Thomas literature was known throughout the region
and also in Egypt, and Thomas literature, particularly the Gospel of Thomas,
appears to have shaped the thinking of Valentinian and Manichaean gnostics.
The Songs of Solomon comprise a hymnbook of poetic and mystical
beauty. Scholars disagree about whether these songs originally functioned as a
Jewish, Christian (or Jewish Christian), or gnostic hymnbook, but whatever
might be the case, these poems are permeated with a profound concern for
mystical wisdom and knowledge. Portions of the songs are excerpted in the
gnostic text Pistis Sophia. Selections from Song 8 may show the mystical con­cerns
of the Songs of Solomon:
Hear the word of truth and drink the knowledge
that I offer from my station.
Your flesh cannot know what I say to you,
nor your robes what I show you.
Keep my mystery. It harbors you.
Keep my faith. It harbors you.
Know my knowledge, you who know me in truth.
Love me gently, you who love.
I do not turn my face from my own.
I know them. Before they were, I knew them
and set my seal on their faces.
I fashioned their limbs and prepared my breasts for them,
for them to drink my holy milk and live on it.

125. 116 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
The similarities of some of these expressions to the Gospel of Thomas are
noteworthy (see, for instance, Gospel of Thomas 108).
According to Christian traditions, Judas Thomas the twin was the brother
of Jesus, and in Syrian tradition he was thought to be the twin brother of Jesus.
This concept of the twin also functions importantly in Manichaean sacred lit­erature.
The New Testament book of Jude is apparently attributed to this
Judas, and in the Acts of Thomas, Judas Thomas is the apostolic missionary to
northern Mesopotamia and India—hence the presence of the church of Saint
Thomas in India to the present day. As the twin brother of Jesus, Judas
Thomas was credited with special knowledge and insight, although not all
Christians agreed with this positive assessment. In the Gospel of John, pre­sented
above, this evaluation of Judas Thomas as a person of knowledge,
Thomas the "gnostic," is directly contradicted, and Thomas is portrayed as
"doubting Thomas," Thomas the "agnostic."
In the Song of the Pearl and, less directly, in the Gospel of Thomas and
the Book of Thomas, the story of the soul is depicted in mythic narrative.
The mythic story of the soul was recounted throughout the literature of an­tiquity
and late antiquity. It was told by storytellers, interpreted by philoso­phers,
and incorporated into texts of gnostic wisdom. It is the story of Eros
(or, Cupid, love) and Psyche (soul), told by Apuleius of Madaura in his ro­mance
entitled Metamorphoses (or The Golden Ass). The word psyche is femi­nine
in gender in Greek, and the soul is often considered female in stories of
the soul. In the Exegesis on the Soul, included here, the story of the soul is
recounted in graphic form as the fall and restoration of the soul, who suc­cumbs
to bodily and sexual defilement and is restored to her former condi­tion
by her heavenly lover.
Simon Magus, the first-century teacher from Samaria claimed by the
heresiologists to be the founder of the gnostic religions, seems to have acted
out a myth of the soul not unlike that described in Exegesis on the Soul.12
Simon himself apparently was called "the great power of god," an expression
found in Acts 8:10,13 and associated with a woman named Helena, whom he
found working as a prostitute in Tyre and subsequently redeemed. He is said
to have called her "first thought" (ennoia) and imagined her incarnating and
reincarnating as thought or soul in one human body after another—Helen of
12. See Rudolph, Gnosis, 297-98.
13. This expression is also found in the title of a text from the Nag Hammadi library, the Concept
of Our Great Power (VI,4).

126. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 117
Troy, for example—until he found and delivered her. Simon Magus is paro­died
as nothing but a cheap magician in the New Testament Acts of the Apos­tles
8 as well as the apocryphal Acts of Peter, which is the basis for the film
The Silver Chalice.
The Song of the Pearl is part of the apocryphal Acts of Thomas, a Syrian
text. In the Acts of Thomas the messenger Judas Thomas is described as praying
and meditating in an Indian prison, and there he writes the Song of the Pearl
as a poem on the soul. The poem relates a quest for a pearl, sleep and forget-fulness
while on the quest, and a call to remembrance. The speaker recites:
I remembered that I was a son of kings
and my free soul longed for its own kind.
I remembered the pearl
for which I was sent down into Egypt,
and I began to enchant
the terrible and snorting serpent.
I charmed him into sleep
by calling the name of my father over him
and of my mother, the queen of the east.
I seized the pearl
and turned to carry it to my father.
So ends, in enlightened discovery, the quest of the traveler, the quest of the
soul. The traveler and the soul have sought and have found.
ADDITIONAL LITERATURE
OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Several additional texts, which seem to represent gnostic religious options but
which cannot be classified along with Sethian, Valentinian, or Thomas and
Syrian literature with any confidence, are included in this part of the volume.
The Exegesis on the Soul, like the Song of the Pearl, narrates the story of the
career of the soul, but the Exegesis on the Soul stresses the seductive nature of
the body and sexuality in its account of the fall of the soul, and the liberation
of the soul from the filthiness of bodily corruption in its account of the
restoration of the soul. The gnostic text On the Origin of the World resembles
the Reality of the Rulers in a number of ways, and it contains themes that
recall Sethian, Valentinian, Manichaean, and other religious traditions. The

127. I l 8 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Paraphrase of Shem brings to mind, in its title, the text that Hippolytus of
Rome in his account of the Sethians calls the Paraphrase of Seth, but its con­tents
do not square well with his description of that text. Rather, the Para­phrase
of Shem is a gnostic account of the creation of the world, with strongly
sexual characteristics, in which Shem is the hero. The Second Treatise of the
Great Seth appears to be Sethian only in title. This text is a gnostic meditation
on the meaning of the life and death of Jesus and the relationship between
gnostic and emerging orthodox Christians. The Gospel of Mary, a fragmen­tary
gospel attributed to Mary (that is, Mary of Magdala), is a gnostic dialogue
of Jesus with his students. The Naassene Sermon describes "serpentine" gnos­tics,
who studied the mystery religions and drew gnostic conclusions. The ser­mon
contains passages reminiscent of the Gospel of Thomas, including a
provocative statement that proclaims the remarkable transformation of those
who are spiritual and embrace knowledge: "This is the gate of heaven and the
house of god, where the good god dwells alone, where no impure person en­ters,
none psychical, none carnal. It is reserved for the spiritual alone, and
those who come there must put on the wedding garments and all become
bridegrooms, made masculine by the virgin spirit."
Such is the gnostic message of hope for the spiritual and the enlightened.
They will come to the light, to god, and be transformed.

128. 3
The Book of Baruch
Justin
I he Book of Baruch, by Justin, is a Jewish gnostic myth, set in Eden,
I that exists today in a lightly Christianized and hellenized form. A
JL. sizable fragment of a lost larger scripture, Baruch is preserved
only as a paraphrase in Hippolytus of Rome's Refutation of All Heresies. Who
the author of the Book of Baruch is we cannot know. Hippolytus tells us little
other than that he is a gnostic named Justin.
Baruch maybe one of the earliest extant gnostic texts,1 a missing gnostic link
between Jewish monotheism and full-blown gnosticism. Elohim is still Elohim
of Genesis 1:1, the essentially good creator god, but he is no longer the one
almighty god, for now he reports to a deity above him, whose epithet is "the
Good." Elohim is not devoid of frailties—he is a blundering lover in the garden
of Eden—yet he is not the demonized demiurge that he will become in classical
gnosticism. In normative gnostic scripture, the creator god of the Hebrew Bible
will be declared guilty of having created humans on earth and having locked
their divine particles of spiritual light inside the prison of material flesh. For
that travesty, Elohim will be given dreadful epithets, while his present master,
1. Irenaeus declares the oldest gnostic scriptures to be the three doctrines of Simon Magus,
Menander, and Saturninus, which are known through refutations of them. To these doctrines
we should add the Samaritan Dositheos.

129. 120 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
the Good, will, as the invisible source of spiritual light, acquire luminous
names. For now, in this quintessential moment of gnostic development, we
have the anomaly of familiar almighty Jewish Elohim being guided by his new
gnostic master, the Good. The Book of Baruch, then, is our first clear paradigm
of gnostic dualism in which worldly and heavenly authority is shared by two di­vinities,
one of whom, Elohim, will eventually become nearly synonymous with
Satan, and the other, the Good, will become the core of the pleroma, the gnostic
fullness from which all spirit emanates and to which all light returns.
Early Jewish gnosticism is Jewish in speech and preoccupation. It still
remembers its Hebrew names such as those of its leading figures Elohim
and Edem (who is also called Israel), it concentrates on marriage and family,
and the love scenes return to the erotic diction of the Song of Songs. Unlike
other contemporary gnostic texts that are said to have had a Jewish Urtext,
here the Jewish basis has not been excised. Robert W. Grant compares Baruch
to "the mystical Judaism we find in the Zohar, where Yahweh is called the
father and Elohim the mother."2
Jewish gnosticism is born in a first-century climate of diverse Jewish vi­sions,
ranging from those of Utopian Essene communities in the desert to cos­mopolitan
Jews in Alexandria, such as the philosopher Philo, who is filled with
Torah, neoplatonism, and strategies of mystical ascension. In the midst of all
this religious ferment and the political realities of Roman occupation, the de­struction
of Jerusalem in 70 CE and the subsequent terrifying diaspora, Jewish
gnosticism seems to gain strength as does the other new major Jewish sect, the
messianists or Christians. The Christians offer faith in an earthly Jewish mes-siah
who has become divine and identified with god, and who promises salva­tion
after death—a matter of scant interest in the Hebrew Bible. By contrast,
the gnostics will offer the promise of an interior light or breath, attainable
during one's lifetime through the epiphany of gnosis. In Baruch, through the
commands and actions of the Good, we see hints of a true paradise on earth
and in heaven, which in its allegorical ending points to hope.
Yet the narration ends with Eden still a conflicted mess, lacking harmony
or immediate resolution. There will be no peaceable kingdom on earth until
the human and divine forces on earth resolve their discord by means of an
as yet unavailable fully gnostic design. Everything in Baruch is transitional,
2. Grant, Gnosticism and Early Christianity.

130. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 121
including the Jews, who initially dominate and then share the stage with
Christians and pagans. This fantastic, eclectic tale, speaking to diverse reli­gious
audiences of the period, initiates the gnostic drama that will persist on
many sundry stages for the next thirteen or fourteen hundred years.3
The Book of Baruch has three principles: two male and one female. The
two male principles are the Good and Elohim, the father of all, who is sta­tioned
below the Good. The transcendent Good as the highest divine mani­festation
clearly goes back to the good as the highest principle in platonic
philosophy. The third figure is the female principle, Edem (earth) or Eden
(garden), inferior to both, who is half woman and half beast. She participates
in both upper and lower worlds. Humans are the fruit of the union of Elohim
with Edem, from whom they receive spirit and soul respectively.4
Father Elohim represents spirit and breathes spirit (pneuma) into the first­born
Adam, while mother Edem, representing soul and earth, breathes soul
(psyche) into Adam. When Elohim dumps Edem in Eden and returns to his
creator, the Good, Edem is jealous and revengeful. As the drama unfolds and
Edem brings out her angels, including the serpent Naas (from nahash, He­brew
for "serpent"), to fight against what is left of Elohim's spirit on earth,
Baruch, a top angel of the Good, sends a series of liberators—Moses, Herak-les,
prophets, and finally Jesus—to ensure redemption and return.
As the female principle, Edem in Baruch has many essences: she is garden;
earth; Israel; creator of humans, beasts, and the soul; and a symbol of Eve, who
is her creation and her double as the earth mother. Edem recalls the gnostic
creator Sophia, thought and wisdom, who because of a disturbance and inad­equacy
in god was separated from the One, fell from the pleroma, and created
the world. The Good is the entirely new personage in this triadic system of
principles, and he is already a gnostic figure in name and transcendent pow­ers.
Elohim and Edem have a biblical past and a gnostic future. Elohim is still
seen as a benign creator god and father, not the demiurge who imprisons par­ticles
of light in earthly bodies, yet he now must rise to heaven, report to the
Good, and confess his error in thinking himself the lord. Then he is redeemed.
3.From the vantage of Jewish orthodoxy, the violation of monotheism has also begun in the
dualistic reception of a Jew called Jesus not only as the messiah—who in Judaism is foreseen as
a human leader anointed and sent by god—but as a messiah (Christ) celebrated as god himself
or as god's son or equal, sitting beside god in heaven on the closest throne.
4. See Filoramo, A History of Gnosticism, p. 169.

131. 122 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
As for Edem, she remains a Genesis sinner, though with greater powers than
she had as biblical Eve. Indeed, Edem the mother shares with Elohim the
father the deed of creating the earth. However, she has none of the heroic
qualities of Eve of later gnosticism, who through her embodiment of knowl­edge
offers salvific knowledge to humans during their residence on earth.
The story that sets the main characters in supernatural action is the ro­mance
between Elohim and Edem and the subsequent fallout of those dis­gruntled
lovers. Their meeting is an idyllic tale of life among the angels,
culminating in marriage. And before the lovers separate, they generate
twenty-four angels. Twelve are paternal, twelve maternal, representing the
good (male) and evil (female) sides of the cosmos. The third paternal angel is
Baruch, and the third maternal angel is Naas, who, though male, fashions
Edem's female strategies through his persuasions. They represent a dualistic
good and evil, spirit and soul, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. Elo­him,
the world creator, learns of his inferiority before the highest god, the
Good, who is his lord to whom he ascends. But by abandoning and thereby
enraging his wife, he allows evil to come into the earth and specifically into
Edem (Eve) and Adam. In her revenge against Elohim's desertion, Edem uses
her baleful angels to infect the spirit that Elohim has left behind with no pro­tection,
and that spirit becomes polluted with earthly soul.
Elohim is portrayed not as wicked but as a neglectful god who has loved,
married, and abandoned his woman. Edem's wild flaws reflect a woman's
scorn for her wayward spouse. Each responds to dramatic circumstance.
Edem, seething against fickle Elohim, who has escaped into the sky to leave
her alone, opposes the spirit he has breathed into earthly humans and uses
Naas to destroy it. To counter Edem's fury, the Good sends Elohim's angel
Baruch back down to oppose Naas and to save rather than punish Edem: de­spite
her war against the father, the woman, mother of Adam and of wild
beasts, may also be redeemed. To heal the rift and make redemption possible
for those of soul, including Edem, the Good directs Elohim to bring his di­verse
prophets—a Jew, a Greek, and a Christian—back to the garden. These
messengers, paying homage to each of the main religions of the day, are to
combat evil and turn soul into spirit. In Justin's Baruch the author attempts
ingenious solutions to resolve spiritual problems on earth. The angel Baruch
turns to Moses, the prophets, and even Herakles, the Greek god of prodigious
strength, whom he calls "a prophet from the uncircumcised." All fail in their
mission. Edem's ally Naas outwits them one by one.

132. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 123
The next resource for Baruch is Jesus, whose entry is imperative for a gnos­tic
teacher intent on converting Christians and pagans as well as Jews. When
Jesus comes to earth, Naas brings out his usual tricks and applies them to
him. Jesus resists. After having seduced all the earlier prophets, Naas is furi­ous
not to have defiled Jesus, and so he has him crucified. Jesus leaves his
body to Edem by the tree (the Edenic tree and the cross) saying, "Woman,
here is your son" (John 19:26). He delivers his spirit into the hand of the fa­ther
(Luke 23:46). They all have failed, and even Jesus succeeds only in a lim­ited
way: he saves his own spirit, which is delivered, as in the gospels, to "the
father," but he does not save the world or resolve the strife in paradise. More­over,
while he delivers his spirit on earth to the father Elohim, Jesus ascends
(in his resurrection) not to the father but to the Good. He rises into what will
be the gnostic fullness. Jesus does not have the last word as a salvific figure. In
this episode there is a resemblance to the later Qur'an, where Jesus is one of
the prophets but not the ultimate savior.
So the task of overcoming Naas and his evil continues. Now, almost as an
explanatory afterthought (this concluding passage in Hippolytus is separated
from the main text by writings that are not in Baruch), the angel Baruch sends
down Priapos, the Greek phallic god of fertility, yet Naas persists. In a lovely
and confused resolution, we again hear the voice of the Psalms, the gospels,
and the Jewish prophets Isaiah and Hosea. Isaiah blames Israel (Edem) for not
recognizing Elohim, and we seem to be back, in some unreflected, uncor­rected,
and muddling way to both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament,
where Edem as both the earlier Eve in Eden and as Israel and the Jews does not
listen to lord Elohim. The final sermon ends with what at first appears to be an
excursion elsewhere but in fact fits in perfectly with its extraordinary panreli-gious
appeal: the Good is equated with Priapos, Elohim with Zeus, Edem with
Danae. This inconclusive ending is appropriate for a fabled book whose mes­sage
points to three moments of gnostic development: a Jewish past, an eclec­tic
present, and a fully gnostic future.
Justin speaks for his day. In his syncretistic system, he includes fantastic
borrowings from the main contemporary sources to persuade Jews, Chris­tians,
and Greeks to embrace this widely inclusive and developing gnostic
speculation. Everyone is welcome: Elohim, Edem, Moses, Baruch, Jesus, Pria­pos,
and Zeus. The Book of Baruch is thus a fusion of literary myths and reli­gious
systems of the first and second centuries, a coherent mythological
romance held together by the spirit of knowledge.

133. 124 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
THE BOOK OF BARUCH
OATH OF SECRECY
If you would know what eye has not seen nor ear heard
and what has not arisen in the human heart,6
and who stands high above all good,
swear to keep the mystery of instruction secret.
Our father, who saw the good perfected in him,
has kept the mysteries of silence secret.
He has sworn and will not waver.7
Here is his oath:
"I swear by the one over all, which is the Good,
to keep these mysteries, to tell them to no one,
and not to go from the Good back to the creation."
When you take this oath, you enter the Good
and see what eye has not seen nor ear heard
and what has not arisen in the human heart.
You drink from the living water,
the washing, the spring of living water bubbling up.8
And there was a separation of waters from waters,9
and the waters below the firmament belong to the evil creation.
In them are washed those who are earthly and psychical.
The waters above the firmament belong to the Good
and are alive. The spiritual and the living are washed in them
as Elohim was after the washing. He did not waver.
5. The Book of Baruch: Book 5 of Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies (5.24.1 and 37.1-3;
5.26.1-37 and 27.4); translated from the Greek by Willis Barnstone.
6. Gospel of Thomas 17; 1 Corinthians 2:9.
7. Psalm 110:4.
8. John 4:10,14.
9. Genesis 1:6.

134. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 125
THE MYTH OF THE CREATORS
There were three ungenerated principles
governing the cosmos: two male and one female.
One of the male principles is called the Good,
and it alone carries that epithet10
and knows everything ahead of time.
The other male principle is named father of all things
begotten in the world, has no forethought,
and he is unknown and invisible.
The female is angry.
She knows nothing ahead of time
and she has two minds and two bodies. As in Herodotos's myth,
she is a virgin above and a viper below.11
She is called both Edem and Israel.
These are the principles of the cosmos,
the roots and pools from which all sprang,
and nothing else was in the world.
When the father knowing nothing beforehand
saw that half-virgin Edem,12 he burned for her,
and he the father is called Elohim,13
and Edem burned equally for Elohim. Their desire
drew them to a single union of love.
From this coupling the father seeded twelve angels
for himself through Edem.
The paternal angels are Michael, Amen, Baruch, Gabriel, Esaddaeus
10. See Luke 18:19.
11. Herodotos, 4.8-10. The ancient notion of a woman consisting of two parts, the virgin
breasts above the waist and an animal temptation below, is contained in myths of the siren, a
symbol in Homer's Odyssey of seduction and destruction.
12. Edem means "earth" and Eden means "paradise." Traditionally, Eden is said to be from the
Hebrew eden, meaning "delight," or god's garden of delight. However, it is more probably re­lated
to a Sumerian word meaning "plain." The extant Greek text gives edem, as in the early
Septuagint Greek translation.
13. Originally the Hebrew word for "gods," Elohim came to be normally translated "god" (sin­gular)
in Genesis 1:1, though elsewhere, as in the Psalms, it retains the plural notion of "gods."
14. Seven of the names of paternal angels are now lost.

135. 126 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
The maternal angels are Babel, Achamoth, Naas, Bel, Belias, Satan,
Sael, Adonaios, Kauithan, Pharaoth, Karkamenos, and Lathen.
Of these twenty-four the paternal ones side
with the father and obey his will in everything,
and the maternal ones hear their mother, Edem.
Their common domain is paradise,
about which Moses tells us,
"God planted paradise east of Eden,"15
before the face of Edem, and therefore
she always looks at paradise, her angels.
The angels of paradise are allegorically called trees,
and the tree of life is the third paternal angel,
and his name is Baruch,
while the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
is the third maternal angel, and he is Naas.
Moses spoke these things covertly
because not everyone can hold the truth.
THE CREATION OF ADAM AND EVE
After paradise came into being through the love
of Elohim and Edem,
the angels of Elohim took some of the best earth
(not from the bestial, naked part of Edem
but from her upper, civilized regions)
and from that good earth they made man,16
but from the bestial land came wild beasts and creatures.
They made man a symbol of their union and love
and planted some of their powers in him.
Edem provided the soul and Elohim the spirit.
The man Adam was a seal and memory of their love,
an eternal symbol of the wedding of Edem and Elohim.
And, as Moses wrote, Eve was image and symbol,
15. Genesis 2:8. The relevant phrase in this verse may be translated "east of Eden" or "before
Eden," as here in the Book of Baruch.
16. Genesis 2:7.

136. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 127
and the seal of Edem preserved forever.
Edem set the soul in Eve and Elohim the spirit.
And they were given commandments:
"Be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth."17
Edem gave away all her power to Elohim,
like a marriage dowry, and till this day,
in imitation of that first marriage,
a woman comes to her husband with a dowry,
obeying a holy and hereditary law
that Edem carried out toward Elohim.18
THE ANGELS ARE DIVIDED
When, according to Moses, everything was created
including heaven and earth and all therein,
the twelve angels of the mother were divided
into four principles, and each quadrant is called
a river: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates.
Huddled in these four parts, the twelve angels
circle around and govern the cosmos.
Their authority over the world comes from Edem.
They are not forever in the same region,
but as in a circular chorus they move
from place to place at fixed intervals and periods
according to their assignments.
When the angels of Pishon rule a region,
then famine, distress, and tribulation
foul that segment of the earth,
for their criterion for ruling is avarice.
And in all regions come bad times and disease
according to each power and nature.
There is a torrent of evil pouring out
like the rivers, and constantly around the world
Edem's will controls every quadrant.
17. Genesis 1:28.
18. See Genesis 2:24.

137. 128 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
ELOHIM'S ASCENT
The necessity of evil has this circumstance:
when Elohim and Edem in mutual love made the cosmos,
Elohim chose to rise to the highest part of heaven
to see if their creation lacked any elements.
He took his angels with him and rose, as was his nature,
and he abandoned Edem below,
who being earth declined to follow her husband upward.
When Elohim reached the upper border of heaven,
he saw a light stronger than the sun he created,
and he said, "Open the gates for me to enter
and to acknowledge the lord.19
I had thought I was the lord!"
He heard a voice out of the light, saying,
"This is the lord's gate. The just pass through it."20
The gate was immediately opened,
and the father, without his angels, went into the Good
and saw what eye has not seen or ear heard
and what has not arisen in the human heart.
The Good said to him, "Sit down at my right hand."21
The father said to the Good,
"Let me destroy the cosmos I made.
My spirit is imprisoned among people.
I want to take it back."22
Then the Good told him, "Nothing which comes
from me can be evil. In your companion love
you and Edem made the world. Let Edem keep the creation
as long as she wishes, but you must stay with me."
EDEM'S RESPONSE
Then Edem knew she was abandoned by Elohim
and sorrowfully began to gather angels around her
19. Psalm 118:19.
20. Psalm 118:20.
21. Psalm 110:1.
22. Genesis 6:7.

138. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 129
and adorn herself brightly23 to arouse his return.
But under the Good's control Elohim no longer
descended to Edem. Then Edem commanded Babel,
which here means the goddess Aphrodite,
to incite fornication and divorce among people,
so that as she was separated from Elohim
the spirit of Elohim in people might feel affliction
and be tormented and suffer like her, Edem,
his abandoned wife. And Edem gave grand authority
to Naas, her third angel, to torture the spirit
of Elohim in people with all possible tortures
so through that spirit Elohim might himself
be tortured—he who had abandoned Edem
in cold violation of their covenant.
ELOHIM SENDS DOWN HIS ANGEL BARUCH
When the father Elohim saw these things,
he sent down Baruch, his own third angel,
to comfort the spirit living in all people.
When Baruch came he stood among the angels
of Edem, in the midst of paradise.24 Paradise
was the angels among whom he stood,
and he commanded the people "to eat from
every tree in paradise, except from the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil,"25
which tree is Naas.26 They could obey
the other eleven angels of Edem,
for though they have passions they do not disobey
the commandment. But Naas disobeyed.
He approached Eve and seduced her
and debauched her, which is a transgression,
and he approached Adam and played with him
as a boy, which is a transgression.
23. See, perhaps, Genesis 2:1 (heaven and earth are finished in their full array).
24. Genesis 2:9.
25. Genesis 2:16,17.
26. Note that Naas is both the tree of knowledge and (since his name derives from the Hebrew
nahash, "snake") the serpent of seduction to eat from the tree.

139. 130 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
So adultery and pederasty were born.
Since then evil and good have ruled people.
It began from a single source. When the father
ascended to the Good, he showed the way
for those who wish to rise, and by leaving Edem
he began the evil for his spirit in people.
BARUCH SEARCHES FOR A SAVIOR
Baruch went to Moses and through him spoke
to the children of Israel to turn them back to the Good,
but Edem's third angel Naas barred his way.
Through the soul Edem gave him and Moses
and all people, Naas expunged Baruch's orders
and only Naas's commandments were heard,
and so soul was set against spirit
and spirit set against soul.
The soul is Edem while the spirit is Elohim,
and each is in both man and woman.
Then Baruch was sent down to the prophets
so that the spirit living in people might hear
and flee from Edem and her corrupt creation
as once father Elohim fled. But Naas, using
his old tactics, dragged the father's spirit down
into the soul of people he seduced, who scorned
Baruch's words in Elohim's commandments.
Then Baruch chose a prophet from the uncircumcised,
Herakles, and sent him to subdue the twelve angels
of Edem,27 and free the father from the twelve evil
angels of the creation.28 These are the twelve labors
in which Herakles contended, from first to last,
with the lion, the hydra, the boar, and the rest.
And they are names of nations given to them
27. The allusion is to the twelve labors that Herakles must perform in order to attain immortality.
28. This passage is translated by Robert Haardt as "the twelve angels of the Creation of Evil."

140. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 131
from the power of the maternal angels.
Just when he seemed victorious, Omphale,29
who is Babel or Aphrodite, attacked him
and seduced him and took away his strength
and Baruch's commandments ordered by Elohim,
and then she wrapped him in her own robe,
the power of Edem, the power from below.
Herakles' prophecies and work were nothing.
BARUCH FINDS JESUS
Finally, "in the days of king Herod,"30
Baruch was sent once more by Elohim
and he came to Nazareth and found Jesus,
son of Joseph and Mary, feeding sheep,
a boy of twelve,31 and he told him everything
that had happened from the beginning,
from Edem and Elohim and all that will be.
He said, "All the prophets before you
were seduced, but Jesus, earthly son,
try not to be seduced, and preach the word
to people and tell them about the father
and the Good, and ascend to the Good
and sit with Elohim, father of us all."
JESUS' CRUCIFIXION AND ASCENT
And Jesus obeyed the angel. He said,
"Lord, I will do all things." He affirmed this.
Naas wanted to seduce him too, but he
could not. Jesus kept faith with Baruch.
Then Naas was enraged because he could not
seduce him, and he had him crucified.
29. Omphale is the queen of Lydia to whom Herakles was enslaved for a period of time, accord­ing
to Greek mythology.
30. Luke 1:5.
31. Luke 2:42.

141. 132 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Jesus left his body to Edem by the tree
and ascended to the Good. He said to her,
"Woman, here is your son."32 He left
his soul and earthly body, but his spirit
he placed in the hands of the father33
and then he ascended to the Good.
ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATIONS
The Good is Priapos, who created before
anything was.34 He is called Priapos
because he made everything. So in temples
everywhere he is honored by all creation.
On the roads he walks carrying fruit,
fruits of creation, whose cause he was,
since he created before anything was.
Now, when you hear that the swan lay on Leda
and produced a child from her,
the swan is Elohim and Leda is Edem.35
When they say that the eagle came upon Ganymede,
the eagle is Naas and Ganymede is Adam.36
When you hear one say that gold came upon Danae
and produced a child from her,
the gold is Elohim and Danae is Edem.37
In this way these tales are interpreted
comparing them to similar myths.
32. John 19:26.
33. Luke 23:46.
34. Priapos, the fertility god of the enormous phallus, is connected to all sorts of fruitfulness in
Greek mythology.
35. Leda is the woman who in Greek mythology was ravished by Zeus, who took the form of a
swan.
36. Ganymede is the Greek youth of great beauty who was kidnapped by an eagle to become a
cupbearer to Zeus.
37. Zeus managed to rape Danae by becoming a shower of gold rain falling on her in her tower
prison. She and her son Perseus escaped, floating on a raft to Seriphos. Here Elohim is com­pared
to Zeus, the gold rain.

142. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
When the prophets say, "Hear, heaven,
and listen, earth, the lord has spoken,"38
the spirit of Elohim in people is heaven,
and soul living with the spirit in people is earth.
The lord is Baruch, and Israel Edem,
and Elohim's wife is called Edem and Israel.
"Israel did not know me."39 And if she40 had known
that I41 am with the Good, she would not
have tortured the spirit that lives in people
because of the ignorance of the father.
When the prophet is said to take a woman
for himself to fornicate because "the earth has fornicated
behind the lord,"42 even as Edem behind Elohim,
in these words the prophet clearly tells the whole mystery,
but because of Naas's wickedness he is unheard.
38. Isaiah 1:2.
39. Isaiah 1:3.
40. This is Edem, Israel.
41. This is Elohim.
42. Hosea 1:2.

144. Sethian Literature
4
The Secret Book
of John
P I ^
I he Secret Book (or Apocryphon) of John is a classic work of
I Sethian gnostic mythology. It presents an early and elegant ver-
.JL. sion of the gnostic myth of creation. Versions of the myth articu­lated
here will resurface throughout the texts that are included in this volume.
The Secret Book of John was almost certainly widely distributed in its time: no
fewer than four copies of it have survived, and Irenaeus of Lyon, in his tract
Against Heresies, attempts to debunk certain "heretics," also called Barbelog-nostics
or Barbeloites, whose system of thought resembles that of the Secret
Book of John.
The Secret Book of John presents a mythological account of the creation,
fall, and salvation of the world and the people within the world, featuring
Sophia in the role of the wisdom of god. In its present form it is a Christian
text consisting of discourses and disclosures of Jesus set within the framework
of a dialogue between John and Jesus. The Secret Book of John thus stands
within the Johannine tradition, the tradition of the Gospel of John and other
texts attributed to John; the scholar Karen L. King has even suggested that
Sethian gnostics have considered it to be Part Two of the gospel.1 This Christ­ian
form of the text appears to be based on an earlier Jewish text that addressed
i. King, "The Apocryphon of John: Part II of the Gospel of John?"

145. 136 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
the problem of evil and vindicated the goodness of god by interpreting the
opening chapters of Genesis and other portions of the Hebrew Bible in an in­novative
and even shocking manner. In the hypothetical Jewish text the re-vealer
and savior must have been the heavenly forethought of god, as is clear
from the hymn of the savior that concludes the revelation in the longer ver­sion
of the Secret Book of John. In the hymn of the savior, and elsewhere in
the Secret Book of John, the revealer speaks in the first-person singular ("I").
In the earlier Jewish text, the revealer would have been Barbelo, the fore­thought
of god, but in the present Christian version of the Secret Book of
John, the revealer is Jesus.
The Secret Book of John explains the contrast between an absolutely ex­cellent
and all-transcendent One (or monad) and an absurd and fallen world
by means of an intricate mythological account of a god who emanates, creates,
falls, and finally is saved. It combines insights derived from Genesis with
Greek philosophical and mythological themes to produce a dramatic story of
salvation, a remarkable account of the evolution, and the devolution, of the
invisible divine spirit.
Greek psychology and philosophy (platonism, for example) posited a sys­tem
in which the mind is linked to the divine and the divine is said to be mind.
Accordingly, the Secret Book of John employs a series of Greek terms related
to the word mind (nous) in order to describe the career of the divine and the
creation of the cosmos. The account describes the invisible spirit or mind ex­tending
itself through a thought (ennoia), a forethought (pronoia), until it
achieves an enlightened state of mind (nous) and a spiritual fullness (pleroma).
Alas, a loss of wisdom (Sophia) brings about mindlessness (aponoia); the
restoration of wisdom is finally accomplished through the expression of di­vine
afterthought (epinoia).
The following cast of principal characters emerges in the mythic account
of the Secret Book of John:
The father of all, called the One, the invisible virgin spirit
The divine mother, forethought of all, Barbelo, called mother-father, first
human, holy spirit, triple male
The divine child, the self-conceived, the anointed
The four heavenly luminaries, Harmozel, Oroiael, Daveithai, Eleleth
Afterthought, a heavenly aeon, sent as a revealer with connections to fore­thought,
Sophia, and Eve

146. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 137
Geradamas ("Adam the stranger"), the heavenly human
Seth, heavenly son of Geradamas, whose offspring are the Sethian gnostics
Sophia, divine wisdom from among the aeons
Yaldabaoth, also called Sakla, Samael, child of Sophia, arrogant first ruler
and creator of this world Authorities, powers, archons, rulers, angels,
demons, lackeys of Yaldabaoth
Adam and Eve
Noah
Moses
Yahweh and Elohim, sons of Yaldabaoth and Eve, also called Cain and Abel
The savior, forethought or Jesus
John son ofZebedee, a student of Jesus and the supposed author or editor
of the Secret Book of John
The offspring or seed of Seth, the unshakable race, the Sethian gnostics
All this takes place, the Secret Book of John declares, "in order that when
the spirit comes down from the holy realms, it may raise up the seed and heal
it of what it lacks, that the entire realm of fullness may be holy and lacking in
nothing." Ultimately, then, god saves and is saved, and with god all those,
called the offspring of Seth, who participate in light and wisdom. Thus divine
wisdom, personified as Sophia, is finally vindicated, and the glorious fullness
of the divine is realized.
All four extant versions of the Secret Book of John are preserved in Coptic,
but a version of the Secret Book of John was most likely composed in Greek in
the second century or earlier. The text is now known in short and long ver­sions;
the long version is the one translated here.2
2. For another Sethian text in this volume that closely parallels the Secret Book of John, most
significantly in its revelation about the One, see the Vision of the Foreigner. Other mythologi­cal
creation accounts with similarities to the Secret Book of John appear particularly in the
Sethian texts collected here, but also in On the Origin of the World and the Paraphrase of
Shem. Among heresiological works, see especially Irenaeus, on the Barbelognostics, or gnostics
of Barbelo, in Against Heresies 1.29.1—4.

147. 138 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
THE SECRET BOOK OF JOHN5
The teaching of the savior, and the revelation of the mysteries and the things
hidden in silence, things he taught his student John.
THE REVEALER APPEARS TO JOHN
One day when John the brother of James, the sons of Zebedee, went up to the
temple, it happened that a Pharisee named Arimanios4 came up to him and
said to him, Where is your teacher, whom you followed?
John said to him, He has returned to the place from which he came.
The Pharisee said to him, This Nazarene has deceived you badly, filled
your ears with lies, closed your minds, and turned you from the traditions of
your parents.
When I, John, heard this, I turned away from the temple and went to a
mountainous and barren place. I was distressed within, and I said,
How was the savior selected?
Why was he sent into the world by his father?
Who is his father who sent him?
To what kind of eternal realm shall we go?
And what was he saying when he told us,
This eternal realm to which you will go is modeled
after the incorruptible realm,
but he did not teach us what kind of realm that one is?5
At the moment I was thinking about this, look, the heavens opened, all
creation under heaven lit up, and the world shook.6 I was afraid, and look, I
3. The Secret Book of John: translated by Marvin Meyer, based largely on the Coptic text of
Nag Hammadi Codex 11,1, Coptic pages 1,1 to 32,9. The text of Nag Hammadi Codex 1V,I,
which also represents the long version, has been consulted, as have the texts representing the
short version, Nag Hammadi Codex III,i, and Berlin Gnostic Codex [BG] 8502,2. A number of
minor restorations have been incorporated into the translation, especially at the beginning of
the text. Readings have been confirmed whenever possible by consulting the four Coptic texts
of the Secret Book of John.
4. The name recalls the evil Zoroastrian deity Ahriman.
5. An eternal realm (or a realm) is an aeon, throughout the Secret Book of John.The list of
questions summarizes what must be known about salvation. Here the list functions as a virtual
table of contents for the text. Other gnostic texts also include such lists of questions, for exam­ple,
the Letter of Peter to Philip, the Gospel of Truth, and the Book of Thomas.
6. The revelation is accompanied by apocalyptic phenomena: the heavens open and the world
is illuminated and shaken.

148. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 139
saw within the light a child standing by me. As I was staring, it seemed to be
an elderly person. Again it changed its appearance to be a youth. Not that
there were several figures before me. Rather, there was a figure with several
forms within the light. These forms appeared through each other, and the
figure had three forms.
The figure said to me, John, John, why are you doubting? Why are you
afraid? Are you not familiar with this figure? Then do not be fainthearted. I am
with you always. I am the father, I am the mother, I am the child. I am the in­corruptible
and the undefiled one.7 Now I have come to teach you what is,
what was, and what is to come,8 that you may understand what is invisible and
what is visible; and to teach you about the unshakable race of perfect hu­mankind.
9 So now, lift up your head that you may understand the things I
shall tell you today, and that you may relate them to your spiritual friends,
who are from the unshakable race of perfect humankind.
THE ONE
I asked if I might understand this, and it said to me, The One10 is a sovereign
that has nothing over it. It is god and father of all, the invisible one that is over
all, that is incorruptible, that is pure light at which no eye can gaze.
The One is the invisible spirit. We should not think of it as a god or like a
god. For it is greater than a god, because it has nothing over it and no lord
above it.11 It does not exist within anything inferior to it, since everything
exists within it alone.12 It is eternal, since it does not need anything. For it is
absolutely complete. It has never lacked anything in order to be completed
by it. Rather, it is always absolutely complete in light. The One is
illimitable, since there is nothing before it to limit it,
unfathomable, since there is nothing before it to fathom it,
immeasurable, since there was nothing before it to measure it,
7. The revelation opens with "I am" statements, used also in the Gospel of John, Thunder, the
Round Dance of the Cross, and other texts.
8. Another list of questions.
9. This is a phrase used to described the gnostic group. These people cannot be shaken and do
not waver in their quest for knowledge and truth.
10. Coptic monas (from Greek), "monad." The following lines offer a classic statement of divine
transcendence formulated in terms of negation. This statement in the Secret Book of John is
similar to the Vision of the Foreigner and reminiscent also of the via negativa of the Hindu Up-anishads,
with the insistence that the ultimate is neti neti, "not this, not that."
11. The One is beyond deity.
12. The One is beyond existence.

149. 140 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
invisible, since nothing has seen it,
eternal, since it exists eternally,
unutterable, since nothing could comprehend it to utter it,
unnamable, since there is nothing before it to give it a name.
The One is the immeasurable light, pure, holy, immaculate. The One is
unutterable and is perfect in incorruptibility. Not that it is part of perfection
or blessedness or divinity: it is much greater.
The One is not corporeal and is not incorporeal.
The One is not large and is not small.
It is impossible to say,
"How much is it?
What kind is it?"
For no one can understand it.13
The One is not among the things that exist, but it is much greater. Not that it
is greater.14 Rather, as it is in itself, it is not a part of the eternal realms or of
time. For whatever is part of a realm was once prepared by another. Time was
not allotted to it, since it receives nothing from anyone: what would be re­ceived
would be on loan. The one who is first does not need to receive any­thing
from another. Such a one beholds itself in its light.
The One is majestic and has an immeasurable purity.
The One is a realm that gives a realm, life that gives life, a blessed one that
gives blessedness, knowledge that gives knowledge, a good one that gives
goodness, mercy that gives mercy and redemption, grace that gives grace.
Not as if the One possesses all this. Rather, it is that the One gives immeas­urable
and incomprehensible light.
What shall I tell you about it? Its eternal realm is incorruptible, at peace,
dwelling in silence, at rest, before everything.15
It is the head of all realms, and it sustains them through its goodness.
We would not know what is ineffable, we would not understand what is
immeasurable, were it not for what has come from the father. This is the one
who has told these things to us alone.16
13. The One is beyond finite categories.
14. The text suggests that since no finite categories are appropriate to describe the infinite One,
not even the term "greater" is appropriate, since it implies a comparison among finite entities.
15. The One, finally, is known in ineffable silence. The divine silence is a common theme in
mystical traditions.
16. The one who has told these things is the father.

150. TERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 141
BARBELO APPEARS
Now, this father is the One who beholds himself in the light surrounding him,
which is the spring of living water, and provides all the realms. He reflects on
his image everywhere, sees it in the spring of the spirit, and becomes enam­ored
of his luminous water, for his image is in the spring of pure luminous
water surrounding him.17
The father's thought became a reality, and she who appeared in the pres­ence
of the father in shining light came forth. She is the first power who pre­ceded
everything and came forth from the father's mind as the forethought of
all. Her light shines like the father's light; she, the perfect power, is the image
of the perfect and invisible virgin spirit.18
She, the first power, the glory of Barbelo, the perfect glory among the
realms, the glory of revelation, she glorified and praised the virgin spirit, for
because of the spirit she had come forth.
She is the first thought, the image of the spirit. She became the universal
womb, for she precedes everything,
the mother-father,19
the first human,
the holy spirit,
the triple male,20
the triple power,
the androgynous one with three names,
the eternal realm among the invisible beings,
the first to come forth.
17. The father gazes into the water and falls in love with his own image in a manner that calls to
mind Narcissus in Greek mythology (see Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.402-510).
18. Through this love of the father for his own image the father's thought (Coptic ennoia, from
Greek) emanated, and the first thought or forethought (Coptic pronoia, from Greek) comes
from the mind of the father: the divine mother, Barbelo. The father thus produces an entity in­dependently,
without the aid of a lover. Other gods who are credited with acts of independent
procreation include the Greek god Zeus, who produces Athena the daughter of Metis (wisdom
or skill) from his head alongside the River (or Lake) Triton (see Hesiod, Theogony 886-900,
924-29), or the Egyptian god Atum, who mates with his hand and spits, that is, he produces
the seed of life by means of masturbation. On Sophia conceiving independently, see below.
19. Coptic metropator (from Greek), probably a term for an androgynous parent.
20. This is a term of praise, in which maleness symbolizes all that is heavenly, like the divine
father, and maleness is amplified by being male three times over. Even Barbelo can be a triple
male! Similar themes occur in Gospel of Thomas 114, the Three Steles of Seth, and other texts.

151. 142 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Barbelo asked the invisible virgin spirit to give her, foreknowledge, and the
spirit consented. When the spirit consented, foreknowledge appeared and
stood by forethought. This is the one who came from the thought of the in­visible
virgin spirit.21 Foreknowledge glorified the spirit and the spirit's per­fect
power, Barbelo, for because of her, foreknowledge had come into being.
She asked again to be given incorruptibility, and the spirit consented.
When the spirit consented, incorruptibility appeared and stood by thought
and foreknowledge. Incorruptibility glorified the invisible one and Barbelo.
Because of her they had come into being.
Barbelo asked to be given life eternal, and the invisible spirit consented. When
the spirit consented, life eternal appeared, and they stood together and glori­fied
the invisible spirit and Barbelo. Because of her they had come into being.
She asked again to be given truth, and the invisible spirit consented. Truth
appeared, and they stood together and glorified the good invisible spirit and
its Barbelo. Because of her they had come into being.
This is the father's realm of five. It is:
the first human, the image of the invisible spirit, that is, forethought, which is
Barbelo, and thought,
along with foreknowledge,
incorruptibility,
life eternal,
truth.
This is the androgynous realm of five, which is the realm of ten, which is the
father.22
BARBELO CONCEIVES
The father gazed into Barbelo, with the pure light surrounding the invisible
spirit, and its radiance. Barbelo conceived from it, and it produced a spark of
light similar to the blessed light but not as great. This was the only child of the
mother-father that had come forth, its only offspring, the only child of the
21. The one who comes from the spirit's thought is most likely forethought, or possibly fore­knowledge.
22. The five in Coptic is pentas (from Greek), "pentad" or "quintet." It consists of Barbelo and the
four spiritual attributes Barbelo requested. Since they are androgynous, they can also be called
the ten (Coptic dekas, from Greek). The five or the ten are the same as the father in emanation.

152. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 143
father, the pure light.23 The invisible virgin spirit rejoiced over the light that was
produced, that came forth first from the first power of the spirit's forethought,
who is Barbelo. The spirit anointed it with its own goodness until it was perfect,
with no lack of goodness, since it was anointed with the goodness of the invisi­ble
spirit. The child stood in the presence of the spirit as the spirit anointed the
child. When the child received this from the spirit, at once it glorified the holy
spirit and perfect forethought. Because of her it had come forth.24
The child asked to be given mind25 as a companion to work with, and the
spirit consented. When the invisible spirit consented, mind appeared and
stood by the anointed, and glorified the spirit26 and Barbelo.
All these beings came into existence in silence.
Mind wished to create something by means of the word of the invisible
spirit.27 Its will became a reality and appeared, with mind and the light, glori­fying
it. Word followed will. For the anointed, the self-conceived god,28 cre­ated
everything by the word. Life eternal, will, mind, and foreknowledge stood
together and glorified the invisible spirit and Barbelo, for because of her they
had come into being.
The holy spirit brought the self-conceived divine child of itself and Bar­belo
to perfection, so that the child might stand before the great, invisible vir­gin
spirit as the self-conceived god, the anointed, who honored the spirit29
with loud acclaim. The child came forth through forethought. The invisible
virgin spirit set the true, self-conceived god over everything, and caused all
authority and the truth within to be subject to it, so that the child might un­derstand
everything, the one called by a name greater than every name, for
that name will be told to those who are worthy of it.
23. Spiritual intercourse between the father and Barbelo produces a child of light. In the long
version of the Secret Book of John, the father is considered to be the active procreative force. In
the version found in BG 8502 and Nag Hammadi Codex III, Barbelo is the one who gazes into
the father or the pure light, and then she gives birth.
24. The text apparently maintains that the divine child is both good (Greek, chrestos) and
anointed (Greek, christos).
25. Nous (from Greek; the Coptic meeue is also used).
26. Coptic, "it" or "him"; possibly "the anointed."
27. Here begins creation by the word, as in Genesis 1 and John 1, as well as in the Egyptian cre­ation
text called the Memphite cosmogony, in which Ptah is described as creating by means of
the spoken word.
28. Coptic autogenes (from Greek).
29. Or "whom the spirit honored."

153. 144 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
THE FOUR LUMINARIES
Now, from the light, which is the anointed, and from incorruptibility, by the
grace of the spirit, the four luminaries that derive from the self-conceived god
gazed out30 in order to stand before it. The three beings are:
will,
thought,
life.
The four powers are:
understanding,
grace,
perception,
thoughtfulness.
Grace dwells in the eternal realm of the luminary Harmozel, who is the
first angel.31 There are three other realms with this eternal realm:
grace,
truth,
form.32
The second luminary is Oroiael, who has been appointed over the second
eternal realm. There are three other realms with it:
afterthought,33
perception,
memory.
The third luminary is Daveithai, who has been appointed over the third
eternal realm. There are three other realms with it:
understanding,
30. Or "appeared" (in BG 8502 and Nag Hammadi Codex III).
31. Or "and is the first angel."
32. The lists of heavenly beings and powers here and elsewhere are meant to indicate the glori­ous
manifestations of the emerging fullness of the divine mind. Upon occasion the lists include
duplicate names.
33. Epinoia (from Greek). In Greek mythology the Titans Prometheos ("forethought") and
Epimetheos ("afterthought") create human beings, though Epimetheos does his job imper­fectly.
Prometheos, who is linked to Athena, makes the humans stand upright, after the manner
of the gods, and he takes fire from the gods and brings it down to earth. He thus functions as a
savior of humans, but he is punished for his actions by being chained to a pillar in the moun­tains,
where a bird of prey continually eats his liver. Eventually Herakles frees him. Much of this
recalls aspects of the plot in the Secret Book of John, particularly the roles of forethought
(pronoia), afterthought (epinoia), and the demiurge.

154. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 145
love,
idea.
The fourth eternal realm has been set up for the fourth luminary, Eleleth.
There are three other realms with it:
perfection,
peace,
Sophia.
These are the four luminaries that stand before the self-conceived god;
these are the twelve eternal realms that stand before the child of the great self-conceived,
the anointed,34 by the will and grace of the invisible spirit. The
twelve realms belong to the child of the self-conceived one, and everything
was established by the will of the holy spirit through the self-conceived one.
GERADAMAS AND SETH
Now, from the foreknowledge of the perfect mind, through the expressed will
of the invisible spirit and the will of the self-conceived one, came the perfect
human, the first revelation, the truth. The virgin spirit named the human Ger-adamas35
and appointed Geradamas to the first eternal realm with the great
self-conceived, the anointed, by the first luminary, Harmozel. Its powers dwell
with it. The invisible one gave Geradamas an unconquerable power of mind.
Geradamas spoke and glorified and praised the invisible spirit by saying,
"Because of you everything has come into being, and to you everything
will return.
"I shall praise and glorify you, and the self-conceived, and the eternal
realms,
the three—father, mother, child, the perfect power."
Geradamas appointed his son Seth to the second eternal realm, before the
second luminary, Oroiael.
In the third eternal realm were stationed the offspring of Seth,36 with the
third luminary, Daveithai. The souls of the saints were stationed there.
34. Geradamas? Perhaps read "the great self-conceived child, the anointed." See also below.
35. Geradamas is the perfect human being, Adamas or Adam, in the divine realm, the father of
Seth and the heavenly ancestor of humankind. The name probably derives from Hebrew, per­haps
meaning Adam the stranger (so Howard M. Jackson and Birger A. Pearson), that is, Adam
who is an alien in this world but is at home in the divine realm. For other suggestions for the
meaning of Geradamas, see lames E. Goehring in Pearson, ed., NagHammadi Codex VII, p. 388.
36. The phrase "the offspring of Seth," like "the unshakable race," designates the gnostic group.

155. 1 4 6 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
In the fourth eternal realm were stationed the souls of those who were ig­norant
of the fullness. They did not repent immediately but held out for a
while and repented later. They came to be with the fourth luminary, Eleleth,
and they are creatures that glorify the invisible spirit.
THE FALL OF SOPHIA
Now, Sophia, who is the wisdom of afterthought and who constitutes an eter­nal
realm, conceived of a thought from herself, with the conception of the in­visible
spirit and foreknowledge. She wanted to bring forth something like
herself, without the consent of the spirit, who had not given approval, without
her partner and without his consideration.37 The male did not give approval.
She did not find her partner, and she considered this without the spirit's con­sent
and without the knowledge of her partner. Nonetheless, she gave birth.
And because of the invincible power within her, her thought was not an idle
thought. Something came out of her that was imperfect and different in ap­pearance
from her, for she had produced it without her partner. It did not re­semble
its mother and was misshapen.
When Sophia saw what her desire had produced, it changed into the figure
of a snake with the face of a lion. Its eyes were like flashing bolts of lightning.
She cast it away from her, outside that realm so that none of the immortals
would see it. She had produced it ignorantly.
She surrounded it with a bright cloud and put a throne in the middle of the
cloud so that no one would see it except the holy spirit, who is called the mother
of the living. She named her offspring Yaldabaoth.
YALDABAOTH'S WORLD ORDER
Yaldabaoth is the first ruler, who took great power from his mother. Then he
left her and moved away from the place where he was born. He took control
37. Sophia tries to imitate the original procreative act of the father. This account of Sophia
bringing forth by herself seems to reflect ancient gynecological theories about women's bodies
and reproduction. In Greek mythology the goddess Hera also imitates Zeus and brings forth a
child by herself. According to one version of the myth, the child is the monster Typhon (Home­ric
Hymn to Pythian Apollo 300-62). According to another, it is the lame deity Hephaistos,
whom Hera evicts from Olympus and sends down to the world below (Hesiod, Theogony
924-29). Hephaistos, the artisan among the gods, is represented in Egypt by his counterpart
Khnum, a ram-headed creator who molds creatures on a potter's wheel. In the Secret Book of
John all the evils and misfortunes of this world derive from Sophia's blunder.

156. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 147
and created for himself other realms with luminous fire, which still exists. He
mated with the mindlessness38 in him and produced authorities for himself:
The name of the first is Athoth, whom generations call the reaper.39
The second is Harmas, who is the jealous eye.
The third is Kalila-Oumbri.
The fourth is Yabel.
The fifth is Adonaios, who is called Sabaoth.
The sixth is Cain, whom generations of people call the sun.
The seventh is Abel.
The eighth is Abrisene.
The ninth is Yobel.
The tenth is Armoupieel.
The eleventh is Melcheir-Adonein.
The twelfth is Belias, who is over the depth of the underworld.40
Yaldabaoth stationed seven kings, one for each sphere of heaven, to reign
over the seven heavens, and five to reign over the depth of the abyss.41 He
shared his fire with them, but he did not give away any of the power of the
light that he had taken from his mother. For he is ignorant darkness.
When light mixed with darkness, it made the darkness shine. When darkness
mixed with light, it dimmed the light and became neither light nor darkness, but
rather gloom.
This gloomy ruler has three names: the first name is Yaldabaoth, the sec­ond
is Sakla, the third is Samael.42
He is wicked in his mindlessness that is in him. He said, I am god and there
is no other god but me,43 since he did not know where his own strength had
come from.
The rulers created seven powers for themselves, and the powers created six
angels apiece, until there were 365 angels.44 These are the names and the cor­responding
appearances:
38. Or "was amazed in the mindlessness." Yaldabaoth mating with his mindlessness (Coptic
aponoia, from Greek) probably suggests that he masturbated.
39- The reading is tentative.
40. The twelve cosmic authorities probably correspond to the signs of the zodiac.
41. The seven kings probably correspond to the seven planetary spheres (for the Sun, the
Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) described by ancient astronomers.
42. These names of the first ruler come from Aramaic, and probably mean, respectively, "child
of (S)abaoth" (or "child of chaos"), "fool," and "blind god."
43- Isaiah 45:5-6, 21, 46:9.
44- The number of angels corresponds to the days in the solar year.

157. 148 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
The first is Athoth and has the face of sheep.
The second is Eloaios and has the face of a donkey.
The third is Astaphaios and has the face of a hyena.
The fourth is Yao and has the face of a snake with seven heads.
The fifth is Sabaoth and has the face of a snake.
The sixth is Adonin and has the face of an ape.
The seventh is Sabbataios45 and has a face of flaming fire.
This is the sevenfold nature of the week.46
Yaldabaoth has many faces, more than all of these, so that he could show
whatever face he wanted when he was among the seraphim.47 He shared his
fire with them and lorded it over them because of the glorious power he had
from his mother's light. That is why he called himself god and defied the place
from which he came.
In his thought he united the seven powers with the authorities that were
with him. When he spoke, it was done. He named each of the powers, begin­ning
with the highest:
First is goodness, with the first power, Athoth.
Second is forethought, with the second power, Eloaios.
Third is divinity, with the third power, Astaphaios.
Fourth is lordship, with the fourth power, Yao.
Fifth is kingdom, with the fifth power, Sabaoth.
Sixth is jealousy, with the sixth power, Adonin.
Seventh is understanding, with the seventh power, Sabbataios.
Each has a sphere in its own realm.
They were named after the glory above for the destruction of the powers.
While the names given them by their maker were powerful, the names given
them after the glory above would bring about their destruction and loss of
power. That is why they have two names.
Yaldabaoth organized everything after the pattern of the first realms that
had come into being, so that he might create everything in an incorruptible
form. Not that he had seen the incorruptible ones. Rather, the power that is in
him, that he had taken from his mother, produced in him the pattern for the
world order.
45. Others versions of the Secret Book of John cite the names Sabbadaios and Sabbede. Here
and below the names vary in the manuscripts.
46. The seven powers correspond to the days of the week.
47. The seraphim are a class of angels, here angels of Yaldabaoth.

158. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 149
When he saw creation surrounding him, and the throng of angels around
him who had come forth from him, he said to them, I am a jealous god and
there is no other god beside me.48
But by announcing this, he suggested to the angels with him that there is
another god. For if there were no other god, of whom would he be jealous?
SOPHIA REPENTS
Then the mother began to move around. She realized that she was lacking
something when the brightness of her light diminished. She grew dim because
her partner had not collaborated with her.
I49 said, Master, what does it mean that she moved around?
The master laughed and said, Do not suppose that it is as Moses said, above
the waters.50 No, when she recognized the wickedness that had occurred and
the robbery her son had committed, she repented. When she became forgetful
in the darkness of ignorance, she began to be ashamed. She did not dare to
return, but she was agitated. This agitation is the moving around.
The arrogant one took power from his mother. He was ignorant, for he
thought no one existed except his mother alone. When he saw the throng of
angels he had created, he exalted himself over them.
When the mother realized that the trappings51 of darkness had come into
being imperfectly, she understood that her partner had not collaborated with
her. She repented with many tears. The whole realm of fullness heard her
prayer of repentance and offered praise on her behalf to the invisible virgin
spirit, and the spirit consented. When the invisible spirit consented, the holy
spirit poured upon her some of the fullness of all. For her partner did not
come to her on his own, but he came to her through the realm of fullness, so
that he might restore what she lacked. She was taken up not to her own eter­nal
realm, but to a position above her son. She was to remain in the ninth
heaven until she restored what was lacking in herself.52
48. Isaiah 45:5-6, 21,46:9.
49. John is speaking.
50. Genesis 1:2.
51. Or "aborted fetus," that is, Yaldabaoth.
52. Sophia dwells in the ninth sphere, above Yaldabaoth, who occupies the eighth sphere (some­times
called the ogdoad and identified as the sphere of the fixed stars). Yaldabaoth himself is thus
positioned over the seven kings in their seven spheres (sometimes called the hebdomad; see
above). See also the Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, and other gnostic texts.

159. 150 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
THE HUMAN APPEARS
A voice called from the exalted heavenly realm,
The human exists
and the human child.
The first ruler, Yaldabaoth, heard the voice and thought it had come from
his mother. He did not realize its source.
The holy perfect mother-father,
the complete forethought,
the image of the invisible one,
being the father of everything,
through whom everything came into being,
the first human—
this is the one who showed them, and appeared in human shape.
The entire realm of the first ruler quaked, and the foundations of the abyss
shook. The bottom of the waters above the material world was lighted by this
image that had appeared. When all the authorities and the first ruler stared
at this appearance, they saw the whole bottom as it was illuminated. And
through the light they saw the shape of the image in the water.53
THE CREATION OF ADAM
Yaldabaoth said to the authorities with him, Come, let us create a human
being after the image of god and with a likeness to ourselves, so that this
human image may give us light.54
They created through their respective powers, according to the features
that were given to them. Each of the authorities contributed a psychical fea­ture
corresponding to the figure of the image they had seen. They created a
being like the perfect first human and said, Let us call it Adam, that its name
may give us power of light.55
53. Yaldabaoth and his authorities look at the waters above the earth, and from underneath
they see the reflection of a human shape in the water. The heavenly human thus revealed is
most likely Barbelo, who has a divine child, though we may also think of Geradamas and his
heavenly son Seth.
54. Genesis 1:26. In the Secret Book of John a distinction is made between the image of god and
the likeness of the creators.
55. Yaldabaoth and his authorities create a psychical man with a psychical body, that is, they
create a soul-man, his body composed entirely of animating soul. His physical body of flesh
and blood will be constructed later.

160. LITERATURE OP GNOSTIC WISDOM 151
The powers began to create:
The first one, goodness, created a soul of bone.
The second, forethought, created a soul of sinew.
The third, divinity, created a soul of flesh.
The fourth, lordship, created a soul of marrow.
The fifth, kingdom, created a soul of blood.
The sixth, jealousy, created a soul of skin.
The seventh, understanding, created a soul of hair.
The throng of angels stood by and received these seven psychical sub­stances
from the authorities56 in order to create a network of limbs and trunk,
with all the parts properly arranged.
The first one, who is Raphao, began by creating the head,
Abron created the skull,57
Meniggesstroeth created the brain,
Asterechme the right eye,
Thaspomocha the left eye,
Yeronumos the right ear,
Bissoum the left ear,
Akioreim the nose,
Banen-Ephroum the lips,
Amen the teeth,
Ibikan the molars,
Basiliademe the tonsils,
Achcha the uvula,
Adaban the neck,
Chaaman the vertebrae,
Dearcho the throat,
Tebar the right shoulder,
N the left shoulder,
Mniarchon the right elbow,
e the left elbow,
Abitrion the right underarm,
Euanthen the left underarm,
Krus the right hand,
56. Or "and these seven psychical substances were taken by the authorities."
57. Or "The first one began by creating the head, Eteraphaope-Abron created the skull."

161. 152 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Beluai the left hand,
Treneu the fingers of the right hand,
Balbel the fingers of the left hand,
Krima the fingernails,
Astrops the right breast,
Barroph the left breast,
Baoum the right shoulder joint,
Ararim the left shoulder joint,
Areche the belly,
Phthaue the navel,
Senaphim the abdomen,
Arachethopi the right ribs,
Zabedo the left ribs,
Barias the right hip,
Phnouth the left hip,
Abenlenarchei the marrow,
Chnoumeninorin the bones,
Gesole the stomach,
Agromauma the heart,
Bano the lungs,
Sostrapal the liver,
Anesimalar the spleen,
Thopithro the intestines,
Biblo the kidneys,
Roeror the sinews,
Taphreo the backbone,
Ipouspoboba the veins,
Bineborin the arteries,
Aatoimenpsephei the breaths in all the limbs,
Entholleia all the flesh,
Bedouk the right buttock,
Arabeei the left buttock,58
. . . the penis,
Eilo the testicles,
Sorma the genitals,
58. Uncertain.

162. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Gormakaiochlabar the right thigh,
Nebrith the left thigh,
Pserem the muscles of the right leg,
Asaklas the muscle of the left,
Ormaoth the right leg,
Emenun the left leg,
Knux the right shin,
Tupelon the left shin,
Achiel the right ankle,
Phneme the left ankle,
Phiouthrom the right foot,
Boabel its toes,
Trachoun the left foot,
Phikna its toes,
Miamai the toenails,
Labernioum
Those who are appointed over all these are seven in number:
Athoth,
Armas,
Kalila,
Yabel,
Sabaoth,
Cain,
Abel.
Those who activate the limbs are, part by part:
the head, Diolimodraza,
the neck, Yammeax,
the right shoulder, Yakouib,
the left shoulder, Ouerton,
the right hand, Oudidi,
the left one, Arbao,
the fingers of the right hand, Lampno,
the fingers of the left hand, Leekaphar,
the right breast, Barbar,
the left breast, Imae,
the chest, Pisandraptes,
the right shoulder joint, Koade,

163. 154 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
the left shoulder joint, Odeor,
the right ribs, Asphixix,
the left ribs, Sunogchouta,
the abdomen, Arouph,
the womb, Sabalo,
the right thigh, Charcharb,
the left thigh, Chthaon,
all the genitals, Bathinoth,
the right leg, Choux,
the left leg, Charcha,
the right shin, Aroer,
the left shin, Toechtha,
the right ankle, Aol,
the left ankle, Charaner,
the right foot, Bastan,
its toes, Archentechtha,
the left foot, Marephnounth,
its toes, Abrana.
Seven have been empowered over all these:
Michael,
Uriel,
Asmenedas,
Saphasatoel,
Aarmouriam,
Richram,
Amiorps.
Those who are over the senses are Archendekta,
the one who is over perception is Deitharbathas,
the one who is over imagination is Oummaa,
the one who is over arrangement is Aachiaram,
the one who is over all impulse to action is Riaramnacho.
The source of the demons that are in the entire body is divided into four:
heat,
cold,
wetness,
dryness.

164. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 155
The mother of them all is matter.
The one who is lord over heat is Phloxopha,
the one who is lord over cold is Oroorrothos,
the one who is lord over what is dry is Erimacho,
the one who is lord over wetness is Athuro.
The mother of all these, Onorthochras, stands in the midst of them, for
she is unlimited and mingles with them all. She is matter, and by her they are
nourished.
The four principal demons are:
Ephememphi, the demon of pleasure,
Yoko, the demon of desire,
Nenentophni, the demon of grief,
Blaomen, the demon of fear.
The mother of them all is Esthesis-Ouch-Epi-Ptoe.59
From the four demons have come passions:
From grief come jealousy, envy, pain, trouble, distress, hardheartedness,
anxiety, sorrow, and others.
From pleasure comes an abundance of evil, vain conceit, and the like.
From desire come anger, wrath, bitterness, intense lust, greed, and the like.
From fear come terror, servility, anguish, and shame.
All these are like virtues and vices. The insight into their true nature is Anaro,
who is head of the material soul, and it dwells with Esthesis-Z-Ouch-Epi-Ptoe.60
This is the number of angels. In all they number 365.61 They all worked
together until, limb by limb, the psychical and material body was completed.
Now, there are others over the remaining passions, and I have not told you
about them. If you want to know about them, the information is recorded in
the Book of Zoroaster.62
59. "Sense-perception is not in an excited state" (from Greek), a philosophical saying (see Lay-ton,
Gnostic Scriptures, p. 43, who calls the saying "Stoic ethical jargon").
60. "The seven senses [?] are not in an excited state" (from Greek), another version of the
philosophical saying cited in the preceding note.
61. The angels assembling the psychical body parts correspond to the days in the solar year, as
above.
62. The precise identification of the Book of Zoroaster remains uncertain, but the title calls to
mind a text from the Nag Hammadi library, Zostrianos, or else Porphyry's Life of Plotinos 16,
where Porphyry refers to other texts written under the name of Zoroaster, including a book of
Zoroaster.

165. 156 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
ADAM RECEIVES SPIRIT AND LIFE
All the angels and demons worked together until they fashioned the psychical
body. But for a long time their creation did not stir or move at all.
When the mother wanted to take back the power she had relinquished
to the first ruler, she prayed to the most merciful mother-father of all. With a
sacred command the mother-father sent five luminaries down to the place of
the angels of the first ruler. They advised him so that they might recover the
mother's power.
They said to Yaldabaoth, Breathe some of your spirit into the face of Adam,
and then the body will arise.
He breathed his spirit into Adam.63 The spirit is the power of his mother,
but he did not realize this, because he lives in ignorance. The mother's power
went out of Yaldabaoth and into the psychical body that had been made to be
like the one who is from the beginning.
The body moved and became powerful.64And it was enlightened.
At once the rest of the powers became jealous. Although Adam had come
into being through all of them, and they had given their power to this human,
Adam was more intelligent than the creators and the first ruler. When they re­alized
that Adam was enlightened, and could think more clearly than they, and
was stripped of evil,65 they took and threw Adam into the lowest part of the
whole material realm.
The blessed, benevolent, merciful mother-father had compassion for the
mother's power that had been removed from the first ruler. The rulers might
be able to overpower the psychical, perceptible body once again. So with its
benevolent spirit and great mercy the mother-father sent a helper to Adam, an
enlightened afterthought who is from the mother-father and who was called
life.66 She helped the whole creature, laboring with it, restoring it to its full­ness,
teaching it about the descent of the seed, teaching it about the way of as­cent,
which is the way of descent.
Enlightened afterthought was hidden within Adam so that the rulers
63. Genesis 2:7.
64. Gospel of Thomas 50 also describes the primal movement of a person.
65. Perhaps parallel to Genesis 2:25.
66. Coptic zoe (from Greek). See Genesis 3:20: Eve is named Zoe in the Septuagint, the Greek
translation of the Hebrew Bible.

166. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 157
might not recognize her, but that afterthought might be able to restore what
the mother lacked.67
THE IMPRISONMENT OF HUMANITY
The human being Adam was revealed through the bright shadow within. And
Adam's ability to think was greater than that of all the creators. When they
looked up, they saw that Adam's ability to think was greater, and they devised
a plan with the whole throng of rulers and angels. They took fire, earth, and
water, and combined them with the four fiery winds.68 They wrought them
together and made a great commotion.69
The rulers brought Adam into the shadow of death so that they might produce
a figure again, from earth, water, fire, and the spirit that comes from matter,70
that is, from the ignorance of darkness, and desire, and their own false spirit.
This is the cave for remodeling the body that these criminals put on the
human, the fetter of forgetfulness.71 Adam became a mortal being, the first to
descend and the first to become estranged.
The enlightened afterthought within Adam, however, would rejuvenate
Adam's mind.
The rulers took Adam and put Adam in paradise. They said, Eat, meaning,
do so in a leisurely manner.72 But in fact their pleasure is bitter and their
beauty is perverse. Their pleasure is a trap, their trees are a sacrilege, their fruit
is deadly poison, their promise is death.
They put their tree of life in the middle of paradise.73
I74 shall teach you the secret of their life, the plan they devised together, the
nature of their spirit: The root of their tree is bitter, its branches are death, its
shadow is hatred, a trap is in its leaves, its blossom is bad ointment, its fruit is
67. Afterthought helps to restore the divine spirit or light that mother Sophia lost to Yaldabaoth.
68. Here fiery winds replace air as the fourth element.
69. The scene recalls a noisy workshop in which a statue or a fetter is being forged.
70. Here material spirit replaces air as the fourth element.
71. The description of a human being and a shadow in a cave may well derive from the allegory
of the cave in Plato's Republic, Book 7. Further, the body as the prison or tomb of the soul is
also a well-known platonic and Orphic teaching.
72. Genesis 2:16-17.
73. Literally, "the tree of their life" (in Nag Hammadi Codex II).
74. The savior, here Jesus, is speaking.

167. 158 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
death, desire is its seed, it blossoms in darkness. The dwelling place of those
who taste of it is the underworld, and darkness is their resting place.
But the rulers lingered in front of what they call the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, which is the enlightened afterthought,75 so that Adam might
not behold its fullness76 and recognize his shameful nakedness.
But I77 was the one who induced them to eat.
I78 said to the savior, Master, was it not the snake that instructed Adam
to eat?
The savior laughed and said, The snake instructed them to eat of the
wickedness of sexual desire and destruction so that Adam might be of use to
the snake. This is the one79 who knew Adam was disobedient because of the
enlightened afterthought within Adam, which made Adam stronger of mind
than the first ruler. The first ruler wanted to recover the power that he himself
had passed on to Adam. So he brought deep sleep upon Adam.
I said to the savior, What is this deep sleep?
The savior said, It is not as Moses wrote and you heard. He said in his first
book, He put Adam to sleep.80 Rather, this deep sleep was a loss of sense. Thus
the first ruler said through the prophet, I shall make their minds sluggish, that
they may neither understand nor discern.81
THE CREATION OF EVE
Enlightened afterthought hid herself within Adam. The first ruler wanted to
take her from Adam's side, but enlightened afterthought cannot be appre­hended.
While darkness pursued her, it did not apprehend her. The first ruler
removed part of Adam's power and created another figure in the form of a fe­male,
like the image of afterthought that had appeared to him. He put the part
75. Afterthought assumes the form of a tree, just as in Greek mythology Daphne changes into a
laurel tree (see Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.452-562; also Reality of the Rulers and On the Origin of
the World). Like Daphne, afterthought is not to be apprehended, according to a later passage in
the Secret Book of John.
76. Or "his fullness."
77. The savior, here Jesus, is still speaking.
78. John is speaking.
79. Either the first ruler or the snake.
80. Genesis 2:21; Moses' first book is thought to be Genesis.
81. Isaiah 6:10.

168. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 159
he had taken from the power of the human being into the female creature. It
did not happen, however, the way Moses said: Adam's rib.82
Adam saw the woman beside him. At once enlightened afterthought ap­peared
and removed the veil that covered his mind. He sobered up from the
drunkenness of darkness. He recognized his counterpart and said, This is now
bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh.83
For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will join
himself to his wife, and the two of them will become one flesh. For his partner
will be sent to him, and he will leave his father and his mother.84
Our sister Sophia is the one who descended in an innocent manner to re­store
what she lacked. For this reason she was called life,85 that is, the mother
of the living, by the forethought of the sovereignty of heaven and by the after­thought
that appeared to Adam.86 Through her have the living tasted perfect
knowledge.
As for me, I appeared in the form of an eagle87 on the tree of knowledge,
which is the afterthought of the pure enlightened forethought, that I might
teach the human beings and awaken them from the depth of sleep. For the
two of them were fallen and realized that they were naked.88 Afterthought
appeared to them as light and awakened their minds.
YALDABAOTH DEFILES EVE
When Yaldabaoth realized that the humans had withdrawn from him, he
cursed his earth. He found the woman as she was preparing herself for her
husband. He was master over her. And he did not know the mystery that had
come into being through the sacred plan. The two of them were afraid to de­nounce
Yaldabaoth. He displayed to his angels the ignorance within him. He
threw the humans out of paradise and cloaked them in thick darkness.89
82. Genesis 2:21-22.
83. Genesis 2:23.
84. Genesis 2:24.
85. Zoe, Genesis 3:20.
86. A line is largely restored, from Nag Hammadi Codex IV.
87. The savior appears as a heavenly bird; the eagle is the bird of Zeus. Compare the Song of the
Pearl, in which the royal letter flies as an eagle and becomes a voice of revelation.
88. Genesis 3:7,10-11.
89. Genesis 3:22-24.

169. i6o LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
The first ruler saw the young woman standing next to Adam and noticed
that the enlightened afterthought of life had appeared in her. Yet Yaldabaoth
was full of ignorance. So when the forethought of all realized this, she dis­patched
emissaries, and they stole life90 out of Eve.
The first ruler defiled Eve and produced in her two sons, a first and a sec­ond:
Elohim and Yahweh.91
Elohim has the face of a bear,
Yahweh has the face of a cat.
One is just, the other is unjust.
He placed Yahweh over fire and wind,
he placed Elohim over water and earth.
He called them by the names Cain and Abel, with a view to deceive.92
To this day sexual intercourse has persisted because of the first ruler. He
planted sexual desire in the woman who belongs to Adam. Through inter­course
the first ruler produced duplicate bodies, and he blew some of his false
spirit into them.
He placed these two rulers93 over the elements so that they might rule over
the cave.94
When Adam came to know the counterpart of his own foreknowledge, he
produced a son like the human child. He called him Seth, after the manner of the
heavenly race in the eternal realms.95 Similarly, the mother sent down her spirit,
which is like her and is a copy of what is in the realm of fullness, for she was going
to prepare a dwelling place for the eternal realms that would come down.
The human beings were made to drink water of forgetfulness96 by the first
ruler, so that they might not know where they had come from. For a time the
seed remained and helped so that when the spirit descends from the holy
realms, it may raise up the seed and heal what it lacks, that the entire realm of
fullness may be holy and lack nothing.
90. Zoe.
91. Coptic, Eloim and Yawe, two names of god in the Hebrew Bible. Elohim is a word that
means "god" (literally "gods" since it is plural in form and ending), Yahweh is the name of god
(based on the tetragrammaton, the ineffable four-letter name).
92. Genesis 4:1-2.
93. That is, Elohim and Yahweh.
94. Or "the tomb" (as above).
95. Genesis 4:25, 5:3.
96. The water of forgetfulness recalls the water of the River Lethe in the Greek conception of
the underworld. If a thirsty soul drinks of the water of this river, it forgets about its previous
lives and thus may be reincarnated in another body.

170. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM l6l
ON HUMAN DESTINY
I said to the savior, Master, will all the souls then be led safely into pure light?
He answered and said to me, These are great matters that have arisen in
your mind, and it is difficult to explain them to anyone except those of the
unshakable race.
Those upon whom the spirit of life will descend and whom the spirit will
empower will be saved and become perfect and be worthy of greatness and be
cleansed there of all evil and the anxieties of wickedness, since they are anx­ious
for nothing except the incorruptible alone, and concerned with that from
this moment on, without anger, jealousy, envy, desire, or greed for anything.
They are affected by nothing but being in the flesh alone, and they wear the
flesh as they look forward to a time when they will be met by those who receive
them. Such people are worthy of the incorruptible, eternal life and calling.
They endure everything and bear everything so as to finish the contest and
receive eternal life.
I said to him, Master, will the souls of people be rejected97 who have not
done these things, but upon whom the power and the spirit of life have de­scended?
He answered and said to me, If the spirit descends upon them, by all means
they will be saved and transformed. Power will descend upon every person, for
without it no one could stand.98 After birth, if the spirit of life grows, and
power comes and strengthens that soul, no one will be able to lead it astray
with evil actions. But people upon whom the false spirit descends are misled
by it and go astray.
I said, Master, where will their souls go when they leave their flesh?
He laughed and said to me, The soul in which there is more power than the
contemptible spirit is strong. She escapes from evil, and through the interven­tion
of the incorruptible one she is saved and is taken up to eternal rest.99
I said, Master, where will the souls go of people who have not known to
whom they belong?
97- Or "be saved" (partially restored, from Nag Hammadi Codex IV).
98. This description of every person is like that of Adam moving and standing after receiving
spirit from Yaldabaoth earlier in the Secret Book of John.
99- Feminine pronouns are used for the soul in the translation of this part of the Secret Book
of John; the soul is commonly depicted as being female in Greek and gnostic literature. Com­pare
the myth of Psyche (soul) and Eros (or Cupid, love) in Apuleius's Metamorphoses, Books
4-6, as well as the Exegesis on the Soul and On the Origin of the World.

171. 162 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
He said to me, The contemptible spirit has grown stronger in such people
while they were going astray. This spirit lays a heavy burden on the soul, leads
her into evil, and hurls her down into forgetfulness. After the soul leaves the
body, she is handed over to the authorities who have come into being through
the ruler. They bind her with chains and throw her into prison.100 They go
around with her until she awakens from forgetfulness and acquires knowl­edge.
This is how she attains perfection and is saved.
I said, Master, how can the soul become younger and return into its mother's
womb,101 or into the human102 ?
He was glad when I asked him about this, and he said to me, You are truly
blessed, for you have understood. This soul will be made to follow another in
whom the spirit of life dwells, and she is saved through that one. Then she will
not be thrust into flesh again.
I said, Master, where will the souls go of people who had knowledge but
turned away?
He said to me, They will be taken to the place where the angels of misery
go, where there is no repentance. They will be kept there until the day when
those who have blasphemed against the spirit will be tortured and punished
eternally.
I said, Master, where did the contemptible spirit come from?
He said to me, The mother-father is great in mercy, the holy spirit, who in
everyway is compassionate, who sympathizes with you,103 the afterthought of
enlightened forethought. This one raised up the offspring of the perfect gen­eration
and raised their thought and the eternal light of the human. When the
first ruler realized that these people were exalted above him and could think
better than he, he wanted to grasp their thought. He did not know that they
surpassed him in thought and that he would be unable to grasp them.
He devised a plan with his authorities, who are his powers. Together they
fornicated with Sophia, and through them was produced bitter fate,104 the final,
fickle bondage. Fate is like this because the powers are fickle. To the present
100. The soul is thrown into another body and thus is reincarnated.
101. Literally "nature," Coptic physis (from Greek). Returning to the mother's womb is also a
theme encountered in John 3.
102. The heavenly human.
103. "You" are apparently the human beings caught up in the machinations of the creator of
this world, that is, the gnostics.
104. In the Greco-Roman world, fate (in Greek, heimarmene, as in the present text) was consid­ered
to be the overwhelming force of bondage that determines the destiny of all that is earthly
and heavenly.

172. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 163
day fate is harder and stronger than what gods, angels, demons, and all the
generations have encountered. For from fate have come all iniquity and injus­tice
and blasphemy, the bondage of forgetfulness, and ignorance, and all bur­densome
orders, weighty sins, and great fears. Thus all of creation has been
blinded so that none might know the god that is over them all. Because of the
bondage of forgetfulness, their sins have been hidden. They have been bound
with dimensions, times, and seasons, and fate is master of all.
The first ruler regretted everything that had happened through him. Once
again he made a plan, to bring a flood upon the human creation.105 The en­lightened
greatness of forethought, however, warned Noah. Noah announced
this to all the offspring, the human children, but those who were strangers to
him did not listen to him. If did not happen the way Moses said, They hid in
an ark.106 Rather, they hid in a particular place, not only Noah, but also many
other people from the unshakable race. They entered that place and hid in a
bright cloud. Noah knew about his supremacy. With him was the enlightened
one who had enlightened them, since the first ruler had brought darkness
upon the whole earth.
The first ruler formulated a plan with his powers. He sent his angels to the
human daughters so they might take some of them and raise offspring for
their pleasure.107 At first they were unsuccessful. When they had proved un­successful,
they met again and devised another plan. They created a con­temptible
spirit similar to the spirit that had descended, in order to adulterate
souls through this spirit. The angels changed their appearance to look like the
partners of these women and filled the women with the spirit of darkness that
they had concocted, and with evil.
They brought gold, silver, gifts, copper, iron, metal, and all sorts of things.
They brought great anxieties to the people who followed them, leading them
astray with many deceptions. These people grew old without experiencing
pleasure and died without finding truth or knowing the god of truth. In this
way all creation was forever enslaved, from the beginning of the world until
the present day.
The angels took women, and from the darkness they produced children
similar to their spirit. They closed their minds and became stubborn through
the stubbornness of the contemptible spirit until the present day.
105. The biblical story of the great flood is in Genesis 6:5-8:22.
106. Genesis 7:7.
107. See Genesis 6:1-4; 1 Enoch 6-11.

173. 164 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
HYMN OF THE SAVIOR
Now I, the perfect forethought of all, transformed myself into my offspring. I
existed first and went down every path.108
I am the abundance of light,
I am the remembrance of fullness.
I went into the realm of great darkness and continued until I entered the
midst of the prison. The foundations of chaos shook, and I hid from them
because of their evil, and they did not recognize me.
Again I returned, a second time, and went on. I had come from the inhab­itants
of light—I, the remembrance of forethought.
I entered the midst of darkness and the bowels of the underworld, turning
to my task. The foundations of chaos shook as though to fall upon those who
dwell in chaos and destroy them. Again I hurried back to the root of my light
so they might not be destroyed before their time.
Again, a third time, I went forth—
I am the light dwelling in light,
I am the remembrance of forethought—
so that I might enter the midst of darkness and the bowels of the underworld.
I brightened my face with light from the consummation of their realm and en­tered
the midst of their prison, which is the prison of the body.
I said, Let whoever hears arise from deep sleep.109
A person wept and shed tears. Bitter tears the person wiped away, and said,
Who is calling my name? From where has my hope come as I dwell in the
bondage of prison?
I said,
I am the forethought of pure light,
I am the thought of the virgin spirit, who raises you to a place of honor.
Arise, remember that you have heard
and trace your root,
which is I, the compassionate.
108. The concluding hymn of the savior is found only in the longer version of the Secret Book
of John (Nag Hammadi Codices II and IV). It reflects a hymn of heavenly forethought, the di­vine
mother, as savior. In the present christianized version of the Secret Book of John the
reader may understand the savior to be Jesus. Three descents of the savior are also described in
the Sethian text Three Forms of First Thought, in this volume.
109. The call to awaken addresses a prototypal sleeper—any person who may awaken to knowl­edge
and salvation.

174. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 165
Guard yourself against the angels of misery,
the demons of chaos and all who entrap you,
and beware of deep sleep
and the trap110 in the bowels of the underworld.
I raised and sealed the person in luminous water with five seals, that death
might not prevail over the person from that moment on.
CONCLUSION
Look, now I shall ascend to the perfect realm. I have finished everything for
you in your hearing. I have told you everything for you to record and com­municate
secretly to your spiritual friends. This is the mystery of the unshak­able
race.
The savior communicated this to John for him to record and safeguard. He
said to him, Cursed be anyone who will trade these things for a gift, for food,
drink, clothes, or anything like this.
These things were communicated to John in a mystery, and at once the sav­ior
disappeared. Then John went to the other students and reported what the
savior had told him.
Jesus the anointed
Amen111
110. Or "enclosure," even "garment."
in. The shorter versions of the Secret Book of John in BG 8502 and Nag Hammadi Codex III
do not include this overtly Christian concluding statement.

175. 5
The Reality of
the Rulers
f • i
I he Reality of the Rulers, also called the Hypostasis (or Nature) of
I the Archons, was written in Greek, perhaps in Egypt, sometime
JL. before 350 CE, probably in the third century. It now exists as a
Coptic text in the Nag Hammadi library. Like the Secret Book of John, it is
a syncretic retelling of early Genesis myth, but this account is more abbrevi­ated.
The Secret Book of John, or a similar text with a more complete cos­mogony,
needs to be consulted to understand more fully the dramatic story
that is told here.1
In the Reality of the Rulers the story begins with the words of the blind
ruler Samael (the demiurge, later referred to as Sakla and Yaldabaoth), who ar­rogantly
states that he is the one god. The story focuses on Eden (referred to
only as "the garden"), then turns to the lands of death outside Eden where
Adam, Eve, and their progeny live after their expulsion, and ends with Noah
and the flood. Thereafter the text recounts Norea's narration and the angel
Eleleth's description of a gnostic cosmogony and theogony. Eleleth, a lumi­nary
of Sethian fame, promises that death will be trampled, and the gnostics,
the children of light, will be in the presence of the father of all, whom they will
1. For another text from the Nag Hammadi library that resembles the Reality of the Rulers in a
number of significant respects, see On the Origin of the World, which is copied immediately
after the Reality of the Rulers in Nag Hammadi Codex II.

176. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 167
praise in a single voice. These dramatic scenes present both biblical and gnos­tic
figures: first of all the divine father and great invisible spirit, the divine
aeon incorruptibility, and the divine child, with the heavenly luminaries, par­ticularly
Eleleth; next Adam and Eve in the garden, with a gnostic serpent and
the rapacious rulers of this world; then Eve's children, including Norea, who
battles the rulers; and finally Zoe (life), daughter of Sophia, who battles and
punishes the demiurge himself.
As in the Secret Book of John, the arrogant ruler decides to create a mate­rial
earth and fashion a human in the image of the high god, made from the
earth. He does so, but the human is merely material and lies on the ground, in­capable
of rising. So the demiurge breathes life into him, but then he is only
psychical, animated with a worldly soul from the world ruler. Finally the spirit
comes to live in Adam, and he is able to rise. After he is placed in the garden
and put to sleep, woman is taken from his side. She is spiritual (endowed with
pneuma) and wakes him, saying, "Arise, Adam." When he sees her, he says,
"You have given me life. You will be called 'mother of the living.'"
Then darkness enters. Dazzled by Eve's beauty, the rulers lust for her and
try to rape her and sow seed in her. They pursue her, and like Daphne she
turns into a tree, leaving a shadow of herself, which they rape foully. Here the
text has assumed the Greco-Roman myth of Daphne and Apollo, with a new
twist. Then the snake—which, in a remarkable revision of the Genesis ac­count,
is called the instructor, because it knows and teaches about knowl­edge—
urges Eve to eat the fruit and obtain knowledge, whereupon begin the
Genesis problems of shame, banishment, exile, and mortality.
The character who emerges as a new gnostic hero is Norea, Eve's virgin
daughter. She successfully confronts both Noah and the rulers of darkness. She
asks Noah to let her enter his ark, and when he refuses, she burns it. Norea
(here also called Orea, perhaps "beautiful") thus assumes independence and
great powers. When the rulers find her and desire her, she defies them and
curses the arrogant god himself for his lechery, claiming her descent from the
world above. She turns to the god of all to rescue her, and he sends down
Eleleth, the great angel and luminary from the heavens. At her request he tells
her about the world above, separated by a veil from the realms below. And so
the narration moves to an accounting of the apocalyptic space of the gods.
This narration fuses Jewish biblical, hellenistic, Christian, and gnostic
tales. The garden story resembles the rape of Eve by the rulers in the text On
the Origin of the World. However, in the latter treatise the garden scene
is more elaborately developed and central to the document. It also differs in

177. 168 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
essential details, for the rape is not an illusion but actually takes place in On
the Origin of the World, by a gang of ruler angels, and the progeny is hu­mankind.
In the Reality of the Rulers, the rulers are real troublemakers who
create but who will eventually perish in ignorance and darkness.
THE REALITY OF THE RULERS2
SAMAEL'S SIN
Because of the reality of the authorities,3 inspired by the spirit of the father of
truth, the great messenger4 referring to the authorities of the darkness5 told us
that "our contest is not against flesh and blood, rather, the authorities of the
universe and the spirits of wickedness."6 I7 have sent you this because you in­quire
about the reality of the authorities.
Their chief8 is blind. Because of his power and his ignorance and his arro­gance
he said, with his power, "I am god; there is no other but me."9
When he said this, he sinned against all. This speech rose up to incorrupt­ibility.
10 Then there was a voice that came forth from incorruptibility, saying,
"You are wrong, Samael," that is, god of the blind.11
His thoughts became blind. And having expelled his power—that is, the blas­phemy
he had spoken—he pursued it down to chaos and the abyss, his mother,
at the instigation of Pistis Sophia.12 She13 established each of his offspring in
conformity with its power, after the pattern of the realms that are above, for by
starting from the invisible world the visible world was invented.
2. Reality of the Rulers: Nag Hammadi Codex 11,4, pp. 86,20 to 97,23; translated from the Cop­tic
by Bentley Layton (Robinson, ed., Nag Hammadi Library in English, rev. ed., pp. 162-69);
revised by Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer.
3. In the Reality of the Rulers the authorities are apparently the same as the rulers or archons.
4. The apostle Paul.
5. Colossians 1:13.
6. Ephesians 6:12.
7. The author of the text ("I"), who is otherwise unknown, promises to explain to the readers
the reality (or nature, hypostasis) of the rulers of this world.
8. Samael, the demiurge.
9. Isaiah 45:5-6, 21, 46:9.
10. Incorruptibility is a divine female aeon related to Barbelo, divine forethought, in the Secret
Book of John.
11. Or possibly "blind god."
12. Faith wisdom, a form of Sophia.
13. Pistis Sophia.

178. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 169
As incorruptibility looked down into the region of the waters, her image
appeared in the waters, and the authorities of the darkness became enamored
of her. But they could not lay hold of that image which had appeared to them
in the waters, because of their weakness, since beings that merely have soul
cannot lay hold of those that have spirit. For they14 were from below, while it15
was from above.16
THE CREATION OF ADAM AND EVE
This is the reason why incorruptibility looked down into the region, so that,
by the father's will, she might bring all into union with the light.
The rulers laid plans and said, "Come, let us create a human that will
be soil from the earth." They modeled their creature as one wholly of the
earth.17
The rulers have bodies that are both female and male, and faces that are the
faces of beasts. They took some soil from the earth and modeled their man, after
their body and after the image of god that had appeared to them in the waters.18
They said, "Come, let us lay hold of it19 by means of the form that we have
modeled, so that it may see its male partner20 and we may seize it with the
form that we have modeled," not understanding the partner of god, because of
their powerlessness. And he21 breathed into his face, and the man came to
have a soul22 and remained on the ground many days. But they could not
make him rise because of their powerlessness. Like storm winds they persisted
in blowing,23 that they might try to capture that image which had appeared
to them in the waters. And they did not know the identity of its power.
Now, all these events came to pass by the will of the father of all. Afterward
the spirit24 saw the man of soul on the ground. The spirit came forth from the
14. The rulers or authorities.
15. The image of incorruptibility.
16. Here and throughout the text there are close parallels to Genesis. Only a few will be noted.
17. See Genesis 2:7.
18. The image of incorruptibility, above. This paragraph is partially restored.
19. The image.
20. Probably the male partner of incorruptibility, who is a female aeon.
21. Samael, the chief ruler.
22. This is the psychical human, the soul man, as in the Secret Book of John.
23. See Genesis 2:7.
24. The spirit is the female spiritual presence who is at work in the world and is reminiscent
of afterthought in the Secret Book of John. She plays a key role throughout the Reality of the
Rulers.

179. 170 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
adamantine land.25 It descended and came to dwell in him, and that man be­came
a living soul.26 And the spirit called his name Adam, since he was found
moving upon the ground.
A voice came forth from incorruptibility for the assistance of Adam. The
rulers gathered together all the animals of the earth and all the birds of heaven
and brought them in to Adam to see what Adam would call them, that he
might give a name to each of the birds and all the beasts.27
The rulers took Adam and put him in the garden, that he might cultivate it
and keep watch over it. They issued a command to him, saying, "From every
tree in the garden shall you eat, but from the tree of knowledge of good and
evil don't eat, nor touch it. For the day you eat from it you will surely die."28
They said this to him, but they did not understand what they said.29
Rather, by the father's will, they said this in such a way that he might in fact
eat, and that Adam might not30 regard them as would a man of an exclusively
material nature.31
The rulers took counsel with one another and said, "Come, let us cause a
deep sleep to fall on Adam."32 And he slept. Now, the deep sleep that they
caused to fall on him, and he slept, is ignorance. They opened his side, which
was like a living woman.33 And they built up his side with some flesh in place
of her, and Adam came to be only with soul.
The woman of spirit34 came to him and spoke with him, saying, "Rise,
Adam." And when he saw her, he said, "It is you who have given me life. You
will be called 'mother of the living.' For she is my mother. She is the physician,
and the woman, and she has given birth."
25. The adamantine land is probably called adamantine because it is hard like steel in its heav­enly
character. Otherwise it may derive from the realm of heavenly Adamas or Geradamas (see
the Secret Book of John).
26. Genesis 2:7, again.
27. Genesis 2:19.
28. Genesis 2:16-17.
29. Partially restored.
30. The word not has been mistakenly left out of the Coptic text.
31. That is, the father wanted Adam to have spiritual insight into the intentions of the rulers.
32. Genesis 2:21.
33. This sentence seems to suggest that one side of Adam, a female side, is removed; this is the
spiritual side of Adam, the female spiritual presence.
34. She is the female spiritual presence—described like Eve in Genesis—while Adam is merely
psychical again, endowed with soul but not with spirit.

180. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 1J1
ADAM AND EVE IN THE GARDEN
The authorities came up to their Adam. When they saw his female partner
speaking with him, they became very excited and enamored of her. They said
to one another, "Come, let us sow our seed in her," and they pursued her. And
she laughed at them for their foolishness and blindness. In their clutches she
became a tree and left before them her shadowy reflection resembling herself,
and they defiled it foully. And they defiled the seal of her voice, so that by the
form they had modeled, together with their own image, they made themselves
liable to condemnation.35
Then the female spiritual presence came in the form of the snake, the in­structor,
36 and it taught them,37 saying, "What did he38 say to you? Was it,
'From every tree in the garden shall you eat, but from the tree of recognizing
evil and good do not eat'?"
The woman of flesh39 said, "Not only did he say 'Don't eat,' but even 'Don't
touch it. For the day you eat from it, you will surely die.'"
The snake, the instructor, said, "It is not the case that you will surely die, for
out of jealousy he said this to you. Rather, your eyes will open and you will be
like gods, recognizing evil and good." And the female instructing power was
taken away from the snake, and she left it behind, merely a thing of the earth.40
And the woman of flesh took from the tree and ate, and she gave to her
husband as well as herself, and those beings, who possessed only a soul,41 ate.
And their imperfection became apparent in their lack of knowledge. They rec­ognized
that they were naked of the spiritual, and they took fig leaves and
bound them around themselves.
Then the chief ruler came, and he said, "Adam, where are you?"—for he
did not understand what had happened.
35. This passage closely resembles the Greek myth of Daphne changing into a laurel tree. See
also the Secret Book of John and On the Origin of the World for similar accounts. The mean­ing
of the last sentence is obscure, but it seems to indicate that the rulers raped a shadow, per­haps
an echo, perhaps the mouth of the woman of spirit after whom they lusted.
36. The female spiritual presence now appears in the serpent.
37- Adam and Eve.
38. Samael, the chief ruler.
39. Eve of flesh, without the female spiritual presence.
40. See Genesis 3:1-5.
41. They are merely psychical.

181. 172 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Adam said, "I heard your voice and was afraid because I was naked, and
I hid."42
The ruler said, "Why did you hide, unless it is because you have eaten from
the tree from which alone I commanded you not to eat? You have eaten!"
Adam said, "The woman you gave me gave me fruit and I ate." And the ar­rogant
ruler cursed the woman.
The woman said, "The snake led me astray and I ate." They43 turned to the
snake and cursed its shadowy reflection, so it was powerless, and they did not
comprehend that it was a form they themselves had modeled.44 From that day,
the snake came to be under the curse of the authorities. Until the perfect
human45 was to come, that curse fell on the snake.
They turned to their Adam and took him and expelled him from the gar­den
along with his wife, for they46 have no blessing, since they too are under
the curse.
Moreover, they threw human beings into great distraction and into a life of
toil, so that their human beings might be occupied by worldly affairs and
might not have the opportunity of being devoted to the holy spirit.47
EVE BEARS CHILDREN
Now, afterward she48 bore Cain, their son,49 and Cain cultivated the land.
Thereupon he50 knew his wife. Again becoming pregnant, she bore Abel, and
Abel was a herdsman of sheep. Cain brought in from the crops of his field, but
Abel brought in an offering from among his lambs. God looked upon the vo­tive
offerings of Abel, but he did not accept the votive offerings of Cain. And
fleshly Cain pursued Abel his brother.
God said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?"
42. Genesis 3:10.
43. The rulers, who curse the snake as their chief curses the woman.
44. The snake no longer has the spiritual presence and is only a shadow of its former self.
45. The perfect or all-powerful human, or man, is the human of perfect knowledge, like Seth
and the offspring of Seth and even forethought as the first human in the Secret Book of John.
See also the narration of Norea at the end of the Reality of the Rulers.
46. Apparently the rulers of this world.
47. See Genesis 3:14-19, with curses against the snake, the woman, and the man.
48. Eve.
49. Cain is the son of Eve and the rulers of this world; in the Secret Book of John, Cain and
Abel both are sons of Eve and Yaldabaoth.
50. Adam.

182. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 173
He answered, saying, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
God said to Cain, "Listen! The voice of your brother's blood is crying up
to me. You have sinned with your mouth. It will return to you: anyone who
kills Cain will let loose seven vengeances, and you will exist groaning and
trembling upon the earth."51
And Adam knew his partner Eve, and she became pregnant and bore Seth
to Adam. And she said, "I have borne another man through god, in place of
Abel."52
Again Eve became pregnant, and she bore Norea.53 And she said, "He has
produced for me a virgin as an assistance for many generations of human be­ings."
She is the virgin whom the forces did not defile.
Then humankind began to multiply and improve.
THE FLOOD
The rulers took counsel with one another and said, "Come, let us cause a flood
with our hands and obliterate all flesh, from man to beast."54 But when the
ruler of the forces55 came to know of their decision, he said to Noah, "Make
yourself an ark from wood that does not rot and hide in it, you and your chil­dren
and the beasts and the birds of heaven from small to large—and set it
upon Mount Sir."56
Then Orea57 came to him, wanting to board the ark. When he would not
let her, she blew upon the ark and caused it to be consumed by fire. Again he
made the ark, for a second time.
51. On Cain and Abel see Genesis 4:1-16.
52. Seth is the hero for the Sethian gnostics. See Genesis 4:25-5:5.
53. Norea is a familiar figure, especially in Sethian literature; there is a tractate in Nag Ham-madi
Codex IX entitled the Thought of Norea. Sometimes she is related to Naamah (Genesis
4:22) in Jewish lore. Naamah plays around with the infamous sons of god (see Genesis 6:2), but
Norea in the Reality of the Rulers is "the virgin whom the forces did not defile." Like wisdom
(Sophia), Norea is saved and also saves. Books attributed to a figure like Norea may be referred
to in On the Origin of the World.
54. Genesis 6-9.
55. This is Sabaoth, discussed later in the text, who is god of the forces. The name Sabaoth comes
from the Hebrew word for "hosts" or "forces," particularly in the expression "Adonai Sabaoth,"
lord of hosts. Sabaoth plays a similar role in On the Origin of the World, where he is portrayed
as rebelling against the rulers of this world and creating Jesus and the virgin of the holy spirit.
56. Mount Sir is a legendary site of wisdom and knowledge.
57. Here Orea, perhaps "beautiful"; usually Norea.

183. 174 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
NOREA BATTLES THE RULERS
The rulers went to meet her, intending to lead her astray. Their supreme chief
said to her, "Your mother Eve came to us."
But Norea turned to them and said to them, "It is you who are the rulers of
the darkness; you are accursed. You did not know my mother. Instead it was
your own female that you knew. For I am not your descendant. Rather, it is
from the world above that I am come."
The arrogant ruler turned with all his might, and his countenance was like
a blazing fire. He said to her presumptuously, "You must service us, as did also
your mother Eve... "58
But Norea turned with power and, in a loud voice, she cried out up to the
holy one, the god of all, "Rescue me from the rulers of unrighteousness and
save me from their clutches—at once!"
The great angel came down from the heavens and said to her, "Why are you
crying up to god? Why do you act so boldly toward the holy spirit?"
Norea said, "Who are you?"
The rulers of unrighteousness had withdrawn from her. He said, "I am
Eleleth, sagacity, the great angel who stands in the presence of the holy spirit.
I have been sent to speak with you and save you from the grasp of the lawless.
And I shall teach you about your root."59
THE REVELATION OF ELELETH
Now, as for that angel, I60 cannot speak of his power. His appearance is like
fine gold and his raiment is like snow. No, truly, my mouth cannot bear to
speak of his power and the appearance of his face.
Eleleth, the great angel, spoke to me. "It is I," he said, "who am under­standing.
I am one of the four luminaries who stand in the presence of the
great invisible spirit.61 Do you think these rulers have any power over you?
None of them can prevail against the root of truth, for on its account he62 has
58. Part of this paragraph cannot be restored with confidence.
59. See also the reference to the root and tracing the root in the conclusion to the Secret Book
of John.
60. Norea.
61. Eleleth is one of the four Sethian luminaries, with Harmozel, Oroiael, and Daveithai.
62. Perhaps the perfect human; see below.

184. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 175
appeared in the final ages, and these authorities will be restrained. And these
authorities cannot defile you and that race,63 for your abode is in incorrupt­ibility,
where the virgin spirit lives, who is superior to the authorities of chaos
and to their universe."
But I64 said, "Sir, teach me about these authorities. How did they come into
being? By what genesis, and out of what material, and who created them and
their power?"
The great angel Eleleth, understanding, spoke to me: "Incorruptibility in­habits
limitless realms. Sophia, who is called Pistis,65 wanted to create some­thing,
alone, without her partner, and what she created was celestial.
"A veil exists between the world above and the realms below, and shadow
came into being beneath the veil.66 That shadow became matter, and that
shadow was projected apart. And what she had created came to be in matter,
like an aborted fetus. It assumed a shape molded out of shadow, and
became an arrogant beast resembling a lion. It was androgynous, as I have
already said, because it derived from matter.67
"Opening his eyes he saw a vast quantity of endless matter, and he turned
arrogant, saying, 'I am god, and there is no one but me.'68
"When he said this, he sinned against all. And a voice came from above
the realm of absolute power, saying, 'You are wrong, Samael,' that is, god of
the blind.69
"And he said, 'If any other thing exists before me, let it become visible to
me!' Immediately Sophia pointed her finger and introduced light into matter,
and she pursued it down to the region of chaos. And she returned up to her
light. Once again darkness returned to matter.70
"This ruler, by being androgynous, made himself a vast realm, an endless
precinct. And he contemplated creating offspring for himself, and created
seven offspring, androgynous like their parent.
63. The unshakable race, the offspring of Seth.
64. Again, Norea.
65. Pistis Sophia, faith wisdom, as above.
66. The veil or curtain between heaven and earth keeps the light of heaven from shining upon
the earth and produces a shadow. Similar ideas are found in Jewish thought, for example, in
Philo of Alexandria. In a more general sense, see Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 40:22.
67. The arrogant demiurge is also lionlike in the Secret Book of John and elsewhere.
68. Isaiah 45:5-6, 21, 46:9.
69. Or possibly "blind god."
70. Partially restored; the meaning is uncertain. The basic sense is that Sophia brings light into
the dark world of matter.
m*.

185. I76 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
"And he said to his offspring, 'I am the god of all.'71
"Zoe72 the daughter of Pistis Sophia shouted, saying to him, 'You are
wrong, Sakla' (for which the alternate name is Yaldabaoth).73 She breathed
into his face, and her breath became a fiery angel for her; and that angel bound
Yaldabaoth and cast him down into Tartaros, at the bottom of the abyss.74
"Now, when his offspring Sabaoth saw the strength of that angel, he re­pented
and condemned his father and his mother matter/3
"He loathed her, but he sang songs of praise up to Sophia and her daugh­ter
Zoe. And Sophia and Zoe found him and put him in charge of the seventh
heaven, below the veil between above and below. And he is called 'god of the
forces, Sabaoth,'76 since he is up above the forces of chaos, for Sophia placed
him there.
"Now, when these events had come to pass, he made himself a huge four-faced
chariot of cherubim and harps and lyres and an infinity of angels to act
as ministers.77
"Sophia took her daughter Zoe and had her sit at his right to teach him
about the things that exist in the eighth heaven,78 and the angel of wrath she
placed at his left. Since that day, his right has been called life, and the left has
signified the unrighteousness of the realm of absolute power above. It was be­fore
your time that they came into being.
"Now, when Yaldabaoth saw him in this great splendor and at this height,
he envied him, and the envy became something androgynous, and this was the
origin of envy. And envy engendered death, and death engendered his off­spring
and gave each of them charge of its heaven. All the heavens of chaos
became full of their multitudes.
"But it was by the will of the father of all that they all came into being, after
the pattern of all the things above, so that the sum of chaos might be attained.79
71. On this arrogant claim see above.
72. Life.
73. On the names of the demiurge see the Secret Book of John, with the notes.
74. Tartaros is the underworld, the realm of the dead, hell.
75. Sabaoth is the son of Yaldabaoth his father and matter his mother.
76. On the meaning of the name Sabaoth, see note 55, above.
77. This chariot recalls the throne or chariot of god, the merkavah, in Ezekiel and Revelation.
78. The seventh and eighth heavens also appear in the Secret Book of John and the Hermetic
Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth.
79. This may indicate that the sum total of all things is attained, from the top in heaven to the
bottom in the realm of chaos, as here. Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, p. 75, suggests that this idea
may come from a neoplatonic doctrine.

186. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 177
"There, I have taught you about the pattern of the rulers and the matter in
which it was made visible, along with their parent and their universe."
EPILOGUE
But I80said, "Sir, am I also from their matter?"
"You,81 together with your offspring, are from the primeval father. Their
souls come from above, out of the incorruptible light.82 Therefore, the au­thorities
cannot approach them, since the spirit of truth resides in them, and
all who have known this way exist deathless in the midst of dying people.
Still, the offspring will not become known now. Instead, after three genera­tions
it will come to be known and free them from the bondage of the au­thorities'
error."
Then I said, "Sir, how much longer?" He said to me, "Until the moment
when the true human,83 within a modeled form, reveals the existence of the
spirit of truth that the father has sent.
"Then he will teach them about everything. And he will anoint them with
the unction of life eternal, given him from the generation without a king.
"Then they will be free of blind thought. And they will trample on death,
which comes from the authorities. And they will ascend into the limitless light
where this offspring belongs.
"Then the authorities will relinquish their ages. And their angels will weep
over their destruction, and their demons will lament their death.
"Then all the children of the light will truly know the truth and their root
and the father of all and the holy spirit. They will all say with a single voice,
'The father's truth is just, and the child84 presides over all.'And from everyone,
till the ages of ages, 'Holy, holy, holy! Amen!'"85
80. Norea.
81. Eleleth is again speaking to Norea.
82. The wording here is similar to Gospel of Thomas 50 and other texts.
83. The true man, the perfect human, as above.
84. Or "son."
85. The trisagion, "Holy, holy, holy," is sung by those around the divine throne in Isaiah and
Revelation.

187. The Revelation
of Adam
^ 1 "1
I he Revelation (or Apocalypse) of Adam is a mythic narration poem
I attributed to Adam, who communicated it to his son Seth. Com-
JL. posed as early as the first or second century CE, this Jewish gnostic
apocalypse (with apparently no Christian element in or amended to it) is rec­ognized
as a transition stage from Jewish apocalypse to gnostic apocalypse.1
In this apocalypse Adam reveals to his son Seth a history of human creation,
before and after the fall, and a way to redemption through secret knowledge. The
revelation occurs as a dream vision passed on by Adam, in his seven hundredth
year, and on his deathbed, to Seth and his seed. It has the form of a historical
testament. It moves from a period when Adam and his consort, Eve, were like
eternal angels, existing above the creator god. Spiritual Eve imparted her knowl­edge
of the eternal god to Adam, but that knowledge and the paradisal condi­tion
were lost when the demiurge took knowledge from them and instructed
them only about "dead things." Then to wake Adam and Eve from dark igno­rance
and slavery, three persons (heavenly messengers) come to Adam and Eve
and say, "Rise, Adam, from the sleep of death." They reveal to Adam hints of the
great race that will come from the heavenly seed of Seth.
i. Some have seen the Revelation's third story of the origin of the illuminator as a story about
Jesus, but Douglas M. Parrott considers the evidence and states, "It is difficult to see any com­pelling
reason to identify this figure with Christ" (in Robinson, ed., Nag Hammadi Library in
English, rev. ed., p. 278).

188. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 179
But there follows a series of contentions between Adam's descendent Noah
and the creator, leading to the creator's attempt to destroy the peopled earth
with water and fire. Noah makes a pact with the creator of this world, and he
and his family are saved personally on earth. More significant, the angels of
the great light save the people of knowledge, the Sethians, who live for six hun­dred
years. And from Noah's seed, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, come the people
of the world, the descendants of Shem and thirteen kingdoms from Ham and
Japheth. The thirteenth kingdom consists of four hundred thousand people
who will live with those who have the great eternal knowledge.
The Revelation of Adam seems to distinguish several groups of people on
the earth, according to their degree of enlightenment:
The seed of Seth, the gnostics.
The descendants of Shem, perhaps the people of Israel,2 who are men­tioned
only obscurely in the text.
The descendants of Ham and Japheth. These include not only the twelve
kingdoms that constitute the people of this world but also the four
hundred thousand, the thirteenth kingdom that sojourns with the
seed of Seth. These must form a special group, drawn from the
people of the world and associated with the gnostics of the seed
of Seth.3
Bentley Layton, acknowledging the difficulties faced in distinguishing the
different groups of people in the Revelation of Adam, suggests that that text
may intend to specify a division of human beings into three essential groups:
the seed of Seth, the descendants of the sons of Noah, and the four hundred
thousand. Such a threefold division, Layton concludes, may be reminiscent of
the Valentinian tendency to divide people into three groups.4
Sakla the creator, in a way that may recall the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah, brings apocalyptic catastrophes of fire, sulfur, and asphalt darken­ing
the powers of the luminaries of the world, the sun and the moon. But now
clouds of light called Abrasax, Sablo, and Gamaliel come down and transport
the chosen above the realms and rulers, and they are saved and become like
2. Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, p. 52.
3. Here 400,000 is a symbolic number used to designate this group of people. In another apoc­alyptic
text a similar use of a symbolic number for a group of people is to be noted in the
144,000 people to be saved according to the New Testament Apocalypse.
4. Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, p. 52.

189. l 8 0 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
angels. At this point the illuminator of knowledge passes by a third time, after
flood and holocaust, performing signs to bring the seed of Noah redemption
for their souls from the day of their death. "Those who reflect upon the knowl­edge
of the eternal god in their hearts will not perish."
There now comes, almost as an intrusion, a long poem. The thirteen king­doms
utter marvelous tales of the origin and nature of the illuminator, the
savior, who we understand is a manifestation linked to heavenly Seth. Each
description is a minor apocalypse, each more fantastic. Each of the state­ments
by these thirteen kingdoms ends with the statement "and in this way
he came to the water." The water endings may be a baptismal rite, yet even
the coming to the water is not an assurance of purification, for with desire
and darkness those waters too can be polluted by the wicked. And it is the
generation or race without a king over it—the Sethian gnostics—that has the
true view of the origin of the illuminator. More Sethian insights into the true
origin of the illumination may be gained from the fuller account in The Se­cret
Book of John, especially the concluding hymn of the savior.
Near the end of the Revelation of Adam a paragraph celebrates the fate of
the words of this revelation. Though unwritten, these words will be brought
by angels to "a high mountain, upon a rock of truth," and they will be known
as words of truth and incorruptibility. In this way the destiny of the words of
Sethian revelation brings to mind traditions of gnostic revelatory steles and
monuments on mountains or elsewhere, as in the Three Steles of Seth, the
Gospel of the Egyptians, and the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth.
THE REVELATION OF ADAM5
THE FALL OF ADAM AND EVE
The revelation6 that Adam taught his son Seth in the seven hundredth year,7
saying, Listen to my words, my son Seth. When god8 created me out of the
5. The Revelation of Adam: Nag Hammadi Codex V, pp. 64,1 to 85,32;. translated from the Cop­tic
by George W. MacRae (Robinson, ed., Nag Hammadi Library in English, rev. ed., 279-86);
revised by Willis Barnstone.
6. Apocalypse.
7. The seven hundredth year is the year of Adam's death according to the version of Genesis in
the Septuagint.
8. The creator of this world, called Sakla elsewhere in the text.

190. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM l8l
earth along with your mother Eve, I went about with her in a glory that she
saw in the eternal realm from which we came. She taught me knowledge of the
eternal god. And we resembled the great eternal angels, for we were higher than
the god who created us and the powers with him, whom we did not know.
God, the ruler of the realms9 and the powers, divided us in wrath, and
then we became two beings.10 And the glory in our hearts left us, me and your
mother Eve, along with the first knowledge that breathed in us. And glory
fled from us and entered another great realm. Your mother Eve and I didn't
come from this realm. But knowledge entered into the seed of great eternal
beings. For this reason I myself have called you by the name of that person
who is the seed of the great generation11 or its predecessor.12 After those days
the eternal knowledge of the god of truth withdrew from me and your
mother Eve. Then we learned about the inanimate as we did about human
beings. We recognized the god who created us. We were not strangers to his
powers. And we served him in fear and slavery. After these events our hearts
darkened, and I slept in my heart's darkened thought.
ADAM AND EVE ARE AWAKENED
And I saw three persons before me whose likeness I was unable to recognize.
They were not from the powers of the god who created us.13 They surpassed
glory, saying to me, "Rise, Adam, from the sleep of death, and hear about the
eternal being and the seed of that person to whom life has come, who came
from you and from Eve, your wife."
When I heard these words from the great persons standing before me, Eve
and I sighed in our hearts. And the lord, the god who created us, stood before
us. He said, "Adam, why were you both sighing in your hearts? Don't you know
that I am the god who created you? I breathed into you a spirit of life as a liv­ing
soul."14 Darkness came over our eyes.
I
9. The aeons, in this case the aeons in this world below.
10. Again, aeons. This describes the splitting of the androgynous primal human into male and
female beings.
11. Or "race," throughout the text.
12. Seth son of Adam is named after the eternal, heavenly Seth in the realm of the divine
fullness.
13. The three persons appearing to Adam are like the threefold figure appearing to John at the
opening of the Secret Book of John.
14. Genesis 2:7.

191. 182 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Then the god who created us created a son from himself and Eve, your
mother 151 knew a sweet desire for your mother. And the vigor of our eter­nal
knowledge was destroyed in us, and weakness pursued us. The days of our
life were few. I knew that I had come under the authority of death.
Now, my son Seth, I will reveal what those whom I saw revealed to me.
After I went through the period of this generation and the years of the gener­ation
were over....
NOAH AND THE FLOOD
For rain showers of god almighty16 will pour down so that he can destroy all
flesh from the earth, using what is around them, along with people from the
seed of those who received the life of knowledge. That life of knowledge came
from your mother Eve and me.17 They were strangers to him. Afterward great
angels come on high clouds, who take those people where the spirit of life
lives The whole multitude of flesh will be left behind in the waters.
God will rest from his wrath. And he casts his power on the waters, and gives
power to his18 sons and their wives by means of the ark along with the animals,
whichever he pleased, and the birds of heaven, which he called and released
upon the earth. And god says to Noah, whom generations call Deucalion,19
"Look, I have protected you in the ark along with your wife and your sons and
their wives and their animals and the birds of heaven, which you called and re­leased
upon the earth.... So I give the earth to you, to you and your sons. In
kingly fashion you will rule over it, you and your sons. And you will have no seed
from the people who do not stand in my presence in another glory."
Some20 become like the cloud of great light, and those people come who
are sent out from the knowledge of the great eternal realms and the angels.21
They stand before Noah and the realms.22
15. Cain, as in the Reality of the Rulers; in the Secret Book of John, Cain and Abel both are sons
of Eve and the demiurge.
16. Again, the creator of this world.
17. The descendants of Seth; see Genesis 6-9.
18. Most likely Noah's.
19. Deucalion is the Greek hero of the flood, who survived the deluge brought by Zeus.
20. Probably the descendants of Seth.
21. Again, probably the descendants of Seth. The translation may also mean that some will
come "who have been cast forth" from knowledge; that is, they may be outcasts from divine
knowledge, and thus descendants of Cain.
22. Probably the lower aeons.

192. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 183
And god says to Noah, "Why have you strayed from what I told you? You
have created another generation so you can scorn my power." And Noah says,
"I testify before your might that the generation of these people didn't come
from me or my sons... ."23
And . . . those people24 are brought into their proper land and a holy
dwelling will be built for them. And they are called by that name25 and live
there six hundred years in knowledge of incorruptibility.26 Angels of the great
light live with them. No foul deed resides in their hearts, but only the knowl­edge
of god.
Then Noah divides the whole earth among his sons, Ham and Japheth and
Shem. He says to them, "My sons, hear me. Look, I have divided the earth
among you. But serve him in fear and slavery all the days of your life. You chil­dren
must not go away from the face of god almighty...."
. . . the son of Noah27 says, "You and your power will be pleased with my
seed. Seal it with your strong hand of fear and command, and then the whole
seed that came from me will not turn from you and god almighty, but they will
serve in humility and fear of what they know."
THE FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND
Then others from the seed of Ham and Japheth come, four hundred thou­sand,
and enter another land and stay with those people who came from the
great eternal knowledge.28 The shadow of their power protects those with
them from everything evil and every filthy desire.
Then the seed of Ham and Japheth forms twelve kingdoms,29 and their
other seed enters into the kingdom of other people.30
. . . they take counsel . . . aeons . . . that are dead . . . the great aeons of
incorruptibility.31 And they go to their god Sakla.32 They go in to the powers,
accusing the great ones who are in their glory.
23. They seem to have come from Seth.
24.The descendants of Seth.
25. The name of Seth.
26. Incorruptibility plays a significant role within the divine realm in Sethian texts, as in the Se­cret
Book of John.
27. Shem.
28. From the descendants of Ham and Japheth four hundred thousand will sojourn with the
descendants of Seth.
29. Or "dominions."
30. These are the thirteen kingdoms.
31. These lines cannot be reconstructed with Confidence.
32. Sakla, which means "fool" in Aramaic, is a name of given to the creator of this world.

193. 184 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
They say to Sakla, "What is the power of these people who stood in your
presence, who were taken from the seed of Ham and Japheth, who number
four hundred thousand?33 They were received into another realm from which
they came, and they overturned all the glory of your power and the dominion
of your hand. The seed of Noah through his sons has done your will, and so
have all the powers in the realms over which your might rules. Both those
people and those who reside in their glory have not done your will. But they
have turned aside your whole throng."
FIRE AND SULFUR AND ASPHALT
Then the god of the realms gives them some of those who serve him They
come on that land where the great ones are who have not been defiled, nor will
they be defiled by any desire. For their souls did not come from a defiled hand,
but from an eternal angel's great command.
Then fire and sulfur and asphalt are cast upon those people, and fire and
blinding mist come over those realms, and the eyes of the powers of the lu­minaries34
are darkened, and the inhabitants of the realms cannot see in
those days.35
And great clouds of light descend, and other clouds of light come down
on them from the great eternal realms. Abrasax and Sablo and Gamaliel36 de­scend
and bring those people out of the fire and the wrath, and take them
above the eternal realms and the rulers of the powers, and take them away...
there with the holy angels and the eternal beings. The people will be like
those angels, for they are not strangers to them. But they work with the im­perishable
seed.
33. The 400,000 constitute a thirteenth kingdom.
34. The sun and moon are the two eyes illuminating the world.
35. This description most likely recalls the fire cast upon Sodom and Gomorrah according to
the book of Genesis, or it may recall something like the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruc­tion
of Pompeii. In any case, the language is apocalyptic: the fabric of the cosmos is being de­stroyed
by the fire and the wrath.
36. These are powers of the eternal realms; see also the Baptismal Ceremony of the Gospel of
the Egyptians. The Three Forms of First Thought preserves the names Kamaliel and Samblo as
servants of the luminaries. The name Abrasax is a common name of power in a variety of tex­tual
traditions. Reading the Greek letters as numbers (the art of gematria), the name Abrasax
totals 365. Abrasax frequently designates the Jewish god.

194. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 185
THE ILLUMINATOR OF KNOWLEDGE
Once again, for the third time,37 the illuminator of knowledge passes by in
great glory to leave some of the seed of Noah and the sons of Ham and
Japheth—to leave fruit-bearing trees for himself.38 And he redeems their souls
from the day of death. The whole creation that came from the dead earth will
be under the authority of death. But those who reflect on the knowledge of the
eternal god in their hearts will not perish. They have not received spirit from
this kingdom39 but from something eternal, angelic.... The illuminator will
come... Seth. And he will perform signs and wonders to scorn the powers and
their ruler.
Then the god of the powers40 is disturbed and says, "What is the power of
this person who is higher than we are?"41 Then he brings a great wrath against
that person. And glory withdraws and lives in holy houses it has chosen for it­self.
The powers do not see it with their eyes, nor do they see the illuminator.
They punish the flesh of the one over whom the holy spirit has come.42
THE ORIGIN OF THE ILLUMINATOR
Then the angels and all the generations of the powers will use the name in
error, asking, "Where did this come from?" or "Where did the words of decep­tion,
which all the powers have failed to realize, come from?"43
Now, the first kingdom says of the illuminator that he came from . . . a
spirit... to heaven. He was nourished in the heavens. He received the glory of
that one and the power. He came to the bosom of his mother, and in this way
he came to the water.
And the second kingdom says of him that he came from a great prophet.
And a bird came, took the child who was born, and brought him onto a high
37. The three descents of the illuminator are featured in the concluding hymn of the savior in
the Secret Book of John. Here the illuminator comes a third time, after the flood and the fire.
38. Fruit-bearing trees maybe a metaphor for fruitful, productive people. The topic of fruitful
people comes up again at the end of the Revelation of Adam.
39. Or "from this kingdom alone."
40. Again, the creator of this world, Sakla.
41. That is, the illuminator.
42. The illuminator will be persecuted. Here some see the crucifixion of Jesus as a manifesta­tion
of Seth.
43. The text now encapsulates legends about the origin of the illuminator from each of the thir­teen
kingdoms. Each dominion of the world has its own story about the origin of the savior.

195. 186 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
mountain. And he was nourished by the bird of heaven. An angel came forth
there. He said to him, "Rise! God has given you glory." He received glory and
strength, and in this way he came to the water.
The third kingdom says of him that he came from a virgin womb.44 He
was cast out of his city, he and his mother; he was brought to a desert place.
He was nourished there. He came and received glory and power, and in this
way he came to the water.
The fourth kingdom says of him that he came from a virgin Solomon
sought her, he and Phersalo and Sauel and his armies, which had been sent
out. Solomon himself sent his army of demons to seek out the virgin. 45 And
they did not find the one whom they sought, but the virgin who was given to
them. It was she whom they fetched. Solomon took her. The virgin became
pregnant and gave birth to the child there. She nourished him on a border of
the desert. When he was nourished, he received glory and power from the seed
from which he was conceived, and in this way he came to the water.
And the fifth kingdom says of him that he came from a drop from heaven.
He was thrown into the sea. The abyss received him, gave birth to him, and
brought him to heaven. He received glory and power, and in this way he came
to the water.
And the sixth kingdom says that one . . . came down to the realm that is
below in order to gather flowers. She became pregnant from the desire of the
flowers. She gave birth to him in that place. The angels of the flower garden
nourished him. He received glory and power there, and in this way he came to
the water.
And the seventh kingdom says of him that he is a drop and came from
heaven to earth. Dragons brought him down to caves, and he became a child.
A spirit came over him and raised him to the place from where the drop had
come. He received glory and power there, and in this way he came to the water.
And the eighth kingdom says of him that a cloud came over the earth and
enveloped a rock. He came from it.46 The angels above the cloud nourished
him. He received glory and power there, and in this way he came to the water.
And the ninth kingdom says of him that from the nine muses one sepa­rated.
She came to a high mountain and spent some time seated there, so that
she desired her own body in order to become androgynous. She fulfilled her
desire and became pregnant from her desire. He was born. The angels who
44. Jesus?
45. King Solomon commonly was thought to have harnessed the power of the demons.
46. In the ancient world the deity Mithras was thought to have been born from rock.

196. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 187
were over the desire nourished him. And he received glory there and power,
and in this way he came to the water.
The tenth kingdom says of him that his god loved a cloud of desire. He fa­thered
him in his hand and cast upon the cloud above him some of the drop,
and he was born.47 He received glory and power there, and in this way he came
to the water.
And the eleventh kingdom says of him that the father desired his own
daughter. She was pregnant from her father. She cast her child48... tomb out
in the desert. The angel nourished him there, and in this way he came to
the water.
The twelfth kingdom says of him that he came from two luminaries.49 He
was nourished there. He received glory and power, and in this way he came to
the water.
And the thirteenth kingdom50 says of him that every birth of their ruler is
a word. And this word received a mandate there.51 He received glory and
power, and in this way he came to the water, that the desire of those powers
might be satisfied.
But the generation without a king52 says that god53 chose him from all the
eternal realms. He caused knowledge of the one of truth, who is undefiled, to
reside in him. He said, "Out of a foreign air, from a huge eternal realm, the
great illuminator appeared. And he made the generation of those people
whom he had chosen for himself shine, so that they should shine on the whole
eternal realm."
PEOPLE ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR ERROR
The seed,54 those who will receive his name upon the water and that of them
all, will fight against the power. And a cloud of darkness will come upon them.
47. That is, god masturbated.
48. Restored.
49. The sun and the moon.
50. After the twelve kingdoms, this is the kingdom of the 400,000 noted above.
51. This phrase may relate to the familiar unfolding of the word or logos as part of the creative
act, with "mandate" referring to divine command or authority. This account is reminiscent of
the logos hymn at the beginning of the Gospel of John.
52. These are the seed of Seth, the Sethian gnostics, who have the true view of the origin of the
illuminator. This view, given briefly here, may be compared with fuller accounts of the origin
of the illuminator elsewhere, for example, in the Secret Book of John.
53. This is the exalted, true god.
54. That is, the seed of Seth.

197. 188 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Then the peoples55 will cry out with a great voice, saying, "Blessings on
the soul of those people because they have known god with a knowledge of
the truth. They shall live forever, because they have not been corrupted by
their desire, along with the angels, nor have they performed the works of the
powers, but they have stood in his presence in a knowledge of god like light
that has come forth from fire and blood.
"But we have done every deed of the powers foolishly. We have boasted in
the transgression of all our works. We have cried against the god of truth be­cause
all his work . . . is eternal. These are against56 our spirits. For now we
know that our souls will die in death."
Then a voice came to them. Micheus and Michar and Mnesinous, who are
over the holy baptism and the living water,57 were saying, "Why were you cry­ing
out against the living god with lawless voices and tongues without law over
them, and souls full of blood and foul deeds? You are full of works that are not
of the truth, yet your ways are full of joy and rejoicing. Having defiled the
water of life, you have drawn it within the will of the powers to whom you
have been given to serve them.
"And your thought is not like that of those people whom you persecute
Their fruit does not wither. But they will be known up to the great eternal
realms, because the words they have kept, of the god of the eternal realms,
were not committed to the book, nor were they written. Angelic beings will
bring them, whom all the generations of people will not know. For they will be
on a high mountain, upon a rock of truth. Therefore they will be called words
of incorruptibility and truth, for those who know the eternal god in wisdom
of knowledge and teaching of angels forever, for he knows all things."
These are the revelations that Adam made known to Seth his son. And his
son taught his seed about them. This is the hidden knowledge of Adam, which
he gave to Seth, which is the holy baptism of those who know the eternal
knowledge through those born of the word and the imperishable illumina­tors,
who came from the holy seed: Yesseus Mazareus Yessedekeus, the living,
water.58
55. The people of the world praise the seed of Seth and decry their own actions.
56. The reading remains somewhat uncertain.
57. In Sethian tradition the triad of Micheus, Michar, and Mnesinous is connected to baptism,
as, for example, in the Baptismal Ceremony of the Gospel of the Egyptians, included in this
volume.
58. On Yesseus Mazareus Yessedekeus, also connected to baptism in Sethian tradition, see the
Baptismal Ceremony of the Gospel of the Egyptians.

198. 7
Three Forms of
First Thought
^ I 1
I he Three Forms of First Thought, or the Trimorphic Protennoia,
I is a Sethian tractate that reached its present form around 200 CE.
•JL. It features a divine triad of father, mother, and child (or son), who
each descend as first thought, Protennoia. First thought's descents from the
pleroma to earth are also symbolized as voice, speech, and word.
The profound poetry of Three Forms of First Thought shares with most
gnostic scripture an exuberant gift for mythopoetic language. In its lexicon
and three stages, Three Forms of First Thought resembles the Secret Book of
John, probably written about the same time: both apocalyptic treatises offer a
philosophical meditation on the formation and history of the universe.
In the Secret Book of John there is a triple descent of the redeemer—from
the riches of light in the heavenly pleroma; to the second period in darkness,
chaos, and the prison of the body; to the third phase, where, being the pure
light in light, the redeemer speaks to the redeemable and pronounces a wak­ening
call for their deliverance. In its revelation of the creation, fall, and salva­tion
of the world and its people, the Secret Book of John resembles the Three
Forms of First Thought's discourse by the personified Protennoia in her three
revelatory descents as heavenly redeemer. Protennoia's ultimate purpose is to
combat the darkness that earth's inhabitants have fallen under as a result of
the plots of their chief creator, the boasting demiurge, and offer the children
of light hope of redemption.

199. 1 90 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Protennoia, first thought, is female. But she lives in the light, who is the fa­ther
of all, and in her is also the divine child, the son of god. So the book be­gins,
"I am first thought, the thought that is in light. I am movement that is in
all, she in whom the realm of all takes its stand." The figures and attributes
manifest a complex variety from the very first statements of the text. First
thought is also the eternal being of Barbelo. As a woman and female principle
she evokes Sophia, wisdom in her earlier descent with all her creation. She also
corresponds to the son in the form of the logos, the savior. This mingled
scheme of references, ecstatically uttered, and its continued mingling, from
the very first lines of Jewish, gnostic, and Christian elements, leads John
Turner to state,
Trimorphic Protennoia has undergone at least three states of
composition. First, there was the original triad of the aretalogi-cal
self-predications ["I am" statements] of Protennoia as Voice,
Speech, and Word that were probably built up out of the Jewish
wisdom tradition and maybe out of The Apocryphon of John's
similar Pronoia aretalogy itself sometime during the first cen­tury
C.E.; there is little here that seems specifically gnostic or
Christian or Sethian or Barbeloite. Second, this was supple­mented
. . . by various narrative doctrinal passages based upon
traditional Barbeloite theogonical materials [about the emer­gence
of the divine realm] After circulation as a mildly Chris­tian
Barbeloite text in this form, the third and last stage of
composition seems to have involved a deliberately polemical in­corporation
of Christian, specifically Johannine Christian, ma­terials
into the aretalogical portion of the third subtractate.1
Initially, the voice of first thought descends as a light force into darkness
and shapes the fallen in their world of error and mortality. They have experi­enced
the destructions brought on by the chief creator of the earth (who is
the demiurge, called variously Sakla, Samael, and Yaldabaoth). The victims of
the creator listen to the mother, who offers the mystery hidden from the
eternal beings, which is embedded in the formation of language itself. She
tells them,
i. In Robinson, ed., NagHammadi Library in English, pp. 512-13.

200. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 191
I am the womb that gives shape to all by bearing light shining in
splendor. I am the coming eternal realm. I am the fulfillment of
a l l . . . . I cast the voice's speech into the ears of those who know
me. I invite you into the high, perfect light.
She offers hope to save the children of light on the earth, telling them they
will be as they were when they were light.
In the second descent, the speech of first thought gives spirit and breath to
the fallen. And in the third, the word or logos of thought descends in human
form and restores the fallen to light, a feat accomplished by means of the bap­tismal
rite of the five seals. The human form may be Christ the anointed, who
is mentioned a few times, reflecting the tractate's light christianization, which,
though at moments polemical, seems to lack conviction. This is not funda­mentally
a Christian treatise. Nonetheless, it still merits comparison with the
opening hymn to the word or logos in the Gospel of John.
The discourse ends with a gnostic baptismal rite leading to the five seals
that contain the light of ineffable knowledge. In the last line we learn that the
author of this sacred scripture is the father of perfect knowledge.
THREE FORMS OF
FIRST THOUGHT2
THE WORD OF FIRST THOUGHT:
THE FIRST DESCENT
I am first thought,3 the thought that is in light. I am movement that is in all,
she in whom the realm of all takes its stand, the firstborn among those who
came into being, she who exists before all. She is called by three names,4 al­though
she exists alone, since she is perfect. I am invisible within the thought
2. Three Forms of First Thought: Nag Hammadi Codex XIII.i, pp. 35,1 to 50,24; translated from
the Coptic by John D. Turner (Robinson, ed., Nag Hammadi Library in English, rev. ed., pp.
513-22); revised by Willis Barnstone. The translation includes a number of textual restorations.
3. Protennoia resembles forethought, Pronoia, elsewhere in Sethian texts.
4- This statement recalls forethought, or Barbelo, as the triple male and the triple power in the
Secret Book of John and elsewhere.

201. 192 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
of the invisible one.51 am revealed in the immeasurable, ineffable things. I am
intangible, dwelling in the intangible. I move in every creature.
I am the life of my afterthought6 that is within every power and every
eternal movement, and in invisible lights, and within the powers and angels
and demons and every soul in Tartaros,7 and in every material soul. I live
in those who came into being. I move in everyone and I enter them. I walk
upright, and those who sleep I awaken. And I am the sight of those who
dwell in sleep.
I am the invisible one in all. I counsel those who are hidden, since I know
the whole realm of all that exists in it. I am numberless beyond everyone. I am
immeasurable, ineffable, yet whenever I wish, I shall reveal myself. I am the
head of all. I am before all, and I am all, since I am in everyone.8
I am a voice speaking softly. I am from the beginning. I am in the silence
that surrounds every one of them. And the hidden voice is in me, in intangi­ble,
immeasurable thought, in the immeasurable silence.9
I descended into the underworld and shone down on the darkness. I
poured water. I am hidden in radiant waters. I gradually dawn on all by my
thought. I am weighed down with the voice. Through me knowledge comes. I
am in the ineffable and unknowable. I am perception and knowledge, uttering
a voice by means of thought. I am the real voice. I cry out in everyone, and they
recognize it, since a seed lives in them. I am the father's thought, and through
me came the voice: the knowledge of everlasting things. I am as thought for
all. I am joined to unknowable and intangible thought. I revealed myself in all
who know me, for I joined everyone in hidden thought and exalted voice, and
in a voice from the invisible thought.
It is immeasurable, since it is in the immeasurable one. It is a mystery, un­restrained
by the intangible. It is invisible to all who are visible in the realm of
all. It is light in light.10
We also have left the visible world since we are saved by hidden wisdom
5. This invisible one seems to be the invisible spirit, the father of the pleroma.
6. Epinoia (from Greek).
7. Tartaros is the underworld, the realm of the dead, hell.
8. These statements of self-predication are reminiscent of the opening of the Secret Book of
John.
9. This description is similar to the description of word, and silence, in the Secret Book of
John.
10. Other Sethian texts, such as the Secret Book of John and the Vision of the Foreigner, have
similar statements of divine transcendence.

202. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 193
mediated by the ineffable, immeasurable voice. And the one who is hidden
within us pays a tribute of fruit to the water of life.11
The son is perfect in every respect. He is the word who originated through
that voice,12 who came from on high, who has within him the name, who is
light. The son revealed the everlasting, and all the unknown was known. He
revealed what is hard to interpret and what is secret, and he preached to those
who live in silence with first thought, and he revealed himself to those who are
in darkness, and he clarified himself to those in the abyss.13 To those in the
hidden treasuries he told ineffable mysteries, and he taught unspeakable doc­trines
to all those who became children of the light.14
Now the voice that came from my thought exists as three permanences: the
father, the mother, the son. The voice is perceptible speech containing a word
rich in every glory. It has three masculinities, three powers, and three names.
They are in the manner of the triad of three [shapes],15 which are quadran­gles,
secretly in silence of the ineffable one.
He alone came into being as the anointed.161 anointed him with goodness
as the glory of the invisible spirit. I established these three alone in glory over
the eternal realms in living water: glory surrounding him who first appeared
to the light of the exalted aeons and realms. He persists in light. And he stood
in a light surrounding him who is the eye of light gloriously shining on me. He
gave aeons for the father of all aeons, I the thought of the father, first
thought,17 Barbelo,18 the perfect glory and the immeasurable invisible hidden
one. I am the image of the invisible spirit. Through me all took shape. I am the
mother as well as the light whom she appointed as virgin, she who is called
Meirothea,19 the intangible womb, the unrestrained and immeasurable voice.
Then the perfect son revealed himself to his aeons who came through him.
He revealed, glorified, and enthroned them, and stood in the glory made for
himself. They blessed the perfect son, the anointed,20 the god who came into
11. The water of life may be baptismal water.
12. Here word (logos) is linked to voice.
13. Darkness and the abyss are terms describing the world of matter here below.
14. The children of the light are Sethian gnostics.
15. Quadrangles are drawn in the Coptic text for "shapes."
16. Christ.
17. Protennoia, again.
18. Barbelo is the name of the divine mother in Sethian literature.
19. This name or epithet for the divine is also used in the Three Steles of Seth. Suggestions for
its meaning vary.
20. Christ, again.

203. 194 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
being by himself. And they gave glory, saying, "He is! He is! God's son! God's
son! He is! The being of eternal beings! He sees the eternal beings that he con­ceived.
For you have conceived by your own desire! So we glorify you: MA!
MO! You are O, O, O. You are A. You are being!21 The eternal realm of the eter­nal
realms! The eternal realm he gave!"
Then the god who was conceived22 gave the eternal realms a power
of life for them to rely on, and he established them. The first eternal realm
he established over the first—Armedon, Nousanios, Harmozel;23 the second
he established over the second eternal realm—Phaionios, Ainios, Oroiael;
the third over the third eternal realm— Mellephaneus, Loios, Daveithai; the
fourth over the fourth: Mousanios, Amethes, Eleleth. Now, those eternal realms
are the ones conceived by the god who was conceived—the anointed—and
these eternal realms received and gave glory. They were the first to appear,
exalted in their thought, and each eternal realm gave ten thousand glories
in great unsearchable lights, and as one they blessed the perfect son, the
god who was conceived.
Then came a word from the great light Eleleth, and said, "I am king! Who
is of chaos and who is of the underworld?" And suddenly his light appeared,
shining forth, given afterthought. The powers of the powers asked nothing of
him. Suddenly there appeared the great demon who rules over the lowest part
of the underworld and chaos. He has no form or perfection. Rather, he has the
form of the glory of those conceived in darkness. Now, he is called Sakla,
Samael, Yaldabaoth, he who took power, who stole it away from innocent
Sophia. Originally he overpowered her; she is the light's afterthought who de­scended,
from whom the great demon came from the beginning.24
The afterthought of light knew the great demon had begged Eleleth for
another order, though he was lower than afterthought, and she said, "Give
me another order so that you may be a place for me to live, so I will not fall
into endless disorder." And the order of the entire house of glory agreed with
her word. She was blessed, and the higher order yielded to her.
21. The Coptic text has ma moo oo eia ei on ei, which might be understood as glossolalia. For
the translation given here, which assumes that the Coptic reproduces Greek, see Layton, Gnos­tic
Scriptures, p. 92. In the translation O is omega and A is alpha.
22. The son, the anointed.
23. The last luminaries of the triads here—Harmozel, Oroiael, Daveithai, and Eleleth—are the
same four luminaries listed in the Secret Book of John. There each is listed with personified
spiritual characteristics; here the other names may be epithets or other powers.
24. On the names and the diabolical ploys of the demiurge, see the Secret Book of John.

204. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 195
Now the great demon began to make aeons in the likeness of the real eter­nal
realms, except that he produced them out of his own power.
I too revealed my voice secretly, saying, "Stop, stop, you who walk on mat­ter.
Look, I am coming down to the world of mortals for my portion that was
there from the time when the innocent Sophia was conquered. She descended
so that I might counter their plan, which was determined by the one who re­veals
himself through her." Everyone in the house of the ignorant light was
disturbed, and the abyss trembled.
The chief creator25 of ignorance reigned over chaos and the underworld
and produced a human being in my likeness. But he didn't know that his cre­ation
would be a decree of his annulment, nor did he recognize the power
in him.
But now I have come down and reached chaos. I was there with my own. I
am hidden in them, empowering them, and giving them shape. From the first
day until the day I grant enormous power to those who are mine, I will reveal
myself to those who have heard my mysteries, the children of light.
I am their father, and I shall tell you an utterly ineffable and unspeakable
mystery: I tore off from you the bonds and broke the chains of the underworld
demons, the same restraints that bound me. I overthrew the high walls of
darkness, and I broke the secure gates of those pitiless ones and smashed their
bars. And I spoke of the evil force and the one who beats and harms you, the
tyrant, the adversary, the king, and the real enemy. I informed all who are
mine, who are children of light, how to nullify the enemies, be free of bonds,
and return to where they first were.
I am the first who descended for my portion of what was left behind: the
spirit in the soul, which came from the water of life and the immersion of
the mysteries. I spoke and the archons and authorities spoke. I went under
their language and spoke my mysteries to my own—a hidden mystery—and
the bonds and eternal oblivion were nullified. And I bore fruit in them, the
thought of the unchanging eternal realm, and my house, and their father.
And I went down to those who were mine from the first, and reached them
and broke the first strands that enslaved them. Then everyone in me shone,
and I made a pattern for those lights that are ineffably in me. Amen.26
25. Greek archigenitor, here and elsewhere in the text.
26. This concludes the first descent of the light. On the three descents of the light, see the con­cluding
hymn of the savior in the Secret Book of John.

205. 196 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
ON DESTINY: THE SECOND DESCENT
I am the voice that appeared through my thought. I am one joined to an­other.
27 I am called the thought of the invisible one. Because I am called the
unchanging speech, I am called she who is joined to another.28
I am alone and undefiled. I am the mother of the voice, speaking in many
ways, completing all. Knowledge is in me, a knowledge of things everlasting. I
speak in every creature, and I was known by all. I lift up the speech of the voice
to the ears of those who have known me, the children of light.
Now, I have come the second time in the likeness of a female and have spo­ken
with them. And I shall tell them of the coming end of this realm and teach
them of the beginning of the eternal realm to come, the one without change,
the one in which our appearance will be changed. We shall be purified in those
eternal realms from which I revealed myself in the thought of the likeness of
my masculinity. I settled among those who are worthy in the thought of my
changeless eternal realm.
I shall tell you a mystery of this realm and of its forces.29 Birth cries out;
hour gives birth to hour, and day gives birth to day. Months reveal months,
time follows time. This realm was completed in this fashion, and as quickly, it
is thought, as a finger releases a finger and a joint separates from a joint. When
the great authorities knew that the time of fulfillment had appeared—just as
the time of the birth pangs came, the time of destruction approached—the
elements trembled, and the foundations of the underworld and the ceilings of
chaos shook, and a great fire shone in their midst, and rocks and earth were
shaken like a reed by the wind.
And a great thunder disturbed the allotments of fate and those who ap­portion
the houses.30 The thrones of the powers were disturbed because they
were overturned, and their king was afraid. And those who follow fate paid
their allotment of visits to the path, and said to the powers, "What is this dis­turbance
and this shaking we have felt through the voice of exalted speech?
And our entire world has been shaken, the entire circuit of our path of ascent
27. Or "syzygetic," a term indicating heavenly conjunction or spiritual marriage.
28. Or "syzygetic," once again.
29. This section gives an apocalyptic vision of the end times, from a Sethian perspective.
30. The houses of the heavens in astronomy. This section reflects upon the planets and their
heavenly circuits.

206. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 197
has been destroyed, and our way up to the chief creator of our birth31 no
longer exists for us."
Then the powers answered, saying, "We too are at a loss about it because we
did not know what caused it. But get up and let's go to the chief creator and
ask him." And the powers gathered and went up to the chief creator. They said
to him, "What kind of boasting is this? Didn't we hear you say, 'I am god, and
I am your father and it is I who produced you, and there is no other god but
me'?32 Now look, the aeon's voice of invisible speech has appeared. We don't
recognize the voice, nor to whom we belong, for the voice that we heard is for­eign
and its origin unknown. It came and terrified and weakened our arms. So
let's weep and mourn bitterly! And let us fly away before we are forcibly im­prisoned
and taken down to the bowels of the underworld. Already the slack­ening
of our bondage is near, and time is short, and the days are brief, and our
time fulfilled. The weeping of our destruction is near and we may be taken to
the place we recognize. The tree from which we grew has fruit of ignorance.
Death is in its leaves, and darkness under the shadow of its boughs. In deceit
and lust we harvested the tree through which ignorant chaos became our
home. For look, even the chief creator of our birth, about whom we boast, did
not know this speech."
0 children of thought, hear me, hear the speech of the mother of your
mercy. You have earned the right to own the mystery hidden from eternity.
Now accept it. And the end of this realm and of the life of injustice is near, and
the beginning of the coming eternal realm dawns and will never change.
1 am androgynous. I am mother and father. I copulate with myself. I copu­late
with myself and with those who love me, and through me alone all
are standing firm. I am the womb that gives shape to all by bearing light shin­ing
in splendor. I am the coming eternal realm. I am the fulfillment of all,
Meirothea33 the glory of the mother. I cast the voice's speech into the ears of
those who know me.
I invite you into the high perfect light. When you enter light, you will be
glorified by those who give glory, and those who enthrone will enthrone you.
You will receive robes from those who give robes, the baptizers will baptize
31. The demiurge.
32. Isaiah 45:5-6, 21, 46:9.
33. On Meirothea, see above.

207. 198 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
you, and you will become exceedingly glorious, the way you first were when
you were light.
I hid in everyone and revealed myself in them, and every mind seeking me
longed for me, for I gave shape to the full realm when it had no form. I trans­formed
their forms into other forms until the time when form is given to
everyone. The voice came through me. I created breath in my people. And I
cast the eternally holy spirit into them, and I ascended and entered my light.
I got on my branch and sat among the children of holy light. And I withdrew
to where they lived. Amen.
THE WORD OF APPEARANCE:
THE THIRD DESCENT
I am the word in the ineffable voice. I am in undefiled light, and thought
came clearly through the great speech of the mother, though a male offspring
is my foundation. Speech exists from the beginning in the foundations of the
full realm.
But a light hides in silence, and it was first to appear. Whereas the mother
alone exists as silence, I alone am the ineffable, incorruptible, immeasurable,
and inconceivable word. The word is hidden light bearing fruit of life, pour­ing
living water from the invisible, unpolluted, immeasurable spring. The
source is the inimitable voice of the mother's glory, the glory of god's off­spring,
the male virgin in hidden intellect, silence hidden from everyone,
inimitable, immeasurable light, the full source and root of the whole eternal
realm. It is the foundation of every movement of the eternal realms that are
of mighty glory. It is the base of every foundation, the breath of powers. It is
the eye of the three permanences, which are a voice in thought. It is a word in
speech. It was sent to illumine those in darkness.
Look, I will reveal my mysteries because you are my brothers and sisters,34
and you will know them. I told them about my mysteries that exist in the in­effable,
inexpressible eternal realms. I taught them the mysteries through the
voice of perfect intellect, and I became a foundation for all and I strengthened
them.
The second time I came as my voice's speech. I shaped those who took
shape before their completion.
34- Or "fellow brothers," here and below.

208. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 199
The third time I revealed myself in their tents as the word.351 revealed my­self
in the likeness of their shape. I wore everyone's garment. I hid in them,
and they didn't know who strengthens me. For I am in all dominions and
powers and among angels and in every movement in matter. I hid in them
until I revealed myself to my brothers and sisters. None of the powers knew
me, though I work in them. They thought they created everything, because
they are ignorant. They didn't know the root and source of their growth.
I am light illumining all. I am light happy in my brothers and sisters. I
came down to the world of mortals because of the spirit in what descended
and came from the innocent Sophia. I came and delivered... and went... that
which he once had. I gave him some of the living water, which strips him of
chaos in uttermost darkness, in the whole abyss, which is corporeal and psy­chical
thought. All these I put on. And I stripped him of inferior thought and
clothed him in shining light: knowledge of the thought of fatherhood.
I delivered him to those who give robes—Yammon, Elasso, Amenai36—
and they covered him with a robe from the robes of the light; I delivered him
to the baptizers and they baptized him—Micheus, Michar, Mnesinous37—
and they immersed him in the spring of the water of life. I delivered him to
those who enthrone—Bariel, Nouthan, Sabenai—and they enthroned him
from the throne of glory. I delivered him to those who glorify—Ariom, Elien,
Phariel—and they glorified him with the glory of the fatherhood. And those
who snatch away, snatched away—Kamaliel . . . Samblo, the servants of the
great holy luminaries—and they took him into the place of the light of his
fatherhood. And he received the five seals38 from the light of the mother, first
thought,39 and it was granted him to partake of the mystery of knowledge, and
he became a light in light.
So, now... I was in them, in each one's form. The rulers thought I was their
anointed.40 Actually, I dwell in everyone. Indeed, within those in whom I re­vealed
myself as light, I eluded the rulers. I am their beloved, for in that place
I clothed myself as the son of the chief creator, and I was like him until the
end of his regime, which is the ignorance of chaos. And among the angels I
35. Their tents are bodies. The image of the word revealed in tents is used in John 1. On this en­tire
paragraph, see the hymn to the word in the Gospel of John.
36. This paragraph contains multiple images of Sethian baptism.
37. On Micheus, Michar, and Mnesinous, see the Revelation of Adam and other Sethian texts.
38. The five seals are connected to baptism in Sethian literature.
39. Protennoia.
40. Christ.

209. 2 00 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
revealed myself in their likeness, and among the powers as if I were one of
them, but among the human children41 as if I were a human child,42 even
though I am father of everyone.
I hid in them all until I revealed myself among my members, which are
mine, and I taught them about the ineffable ordinances, and about the broth­ers
and sisters. But they are inexpressible to every sovereignty and every ruling
power except to the children of light, decreed by the father. These are the glo­ries
that are higher than every glory, that is, the five seals, complete by virtue
of intellect. One who possesses the five seals with these names has stripped off
the garments of ignorance and put on shining light. And nothing will appear
to one who belongs to the powers of the rulers. In them darkness will dissolve
and ignorance die. And thought of the scattered creature will have a single ap­pearance,
and dark chaos will dissolve . . . until I reveal myself to my brothers
and sisters and gather all my brothers and sisters in my eternal kingdom. I
proclaimed the ineffable five seals to them so that I might live in them and
they in me.
I wore Jesus.431 carried him from the cursed wood and set him in his fa­ther's
house. And those who guard their houses didn't recognize me. My seed
and I are unrestrained. My seed is mine. I shall place it in holy light in
intangible silence. Amen.44
41. Or "earthly children," "sons of man."
42. Or "earthly son," "son of man."
43. Wearing Jesus as a garment suggests the incarnation of Jesus. This is the manifestation of
the Sethian savior in Christian garb.
44. Following the title, the manuscript adds here, "A sacred scripture written by the father with
perfect knowledge."

210. 8
The Three Steles
of Seth
ike other Sethian texts, the Three Steles of Seth is a text featuring the
salvation of the offspring of Seth. The Three Steles praise each
member of the divine family in turn: the invisible father (addressed,
as in the Secret Book of John, as the One [or monad], the five, the ineffable);
his counterpart, Barbelo; and the self-conceived child. The Jewish historian
Josephus recounts a story of how the descendants of Seth preserved the wis­dom
of Adam, Eve, and Seth by inscribing it on two steles of brick and stone,
in order to preserve it through hell and high water. This legend becomes the
occasion for explaining the origin of the present text, in which the original
two steles may have become three to allow for praise to the threefold nature of
the divine family. A similar legend may suggest that Hermetic texts were also
preserved on steles and thus were communicated to later generations. This
legend is recounted in the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth.
The Three Steles of Seth claims to be the original set of divine hymns of
praise formulated through heavenly Seth and his father, Geradamas, and re­covered
as a latter-day collection of hymns. Reading them, it is easy to imag­ine
the gnostic Sethian community at worship, offering hymns of praise to
the divine family. The text concludes with instructions for the use of the
hymns: they are to be used in a liturgy of ecstatic ascent—inviting the wor­shiper
to approach god, see god, and learn "about things infinite"—and re­turn
from ascent.

211. 202 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
The contents of the hymns recall other texts written in the spirit of Seth,
such as the Secret Book of John, the Vision of the Foreigner, the Sermon of
Zostrianos, and Marsanes.1 The Three Steles of Seth reflects Jewish and neo-platonic
philosophical ideas, the latter particularly in the numerous references
to the neoplatonic triad of existence, life, and mind.
The Three Steles of Seth was likely composed in Greek. The date and place
of composition are unknown, though Alexandria, Egypt, is as likely a place of
composition as any other that has been proposed. Since the neoplatonic
philosopher Plotinos taught a course against the gnostics in 265-66 CE, and his
student Porphyry mentions Zostrianos, the Foreigner (Allogenes), and other
gnostic works, the first half of the third century has been proposed as a plau­sible
time of composition.
THE THREE STELES OF SETH2
The revelation of Dositheos3 about the three steles of Seth,4 father of the liv­ing
and unshakable race.5 He remembered what he saw, understood, and read,
and gave it to the chosen, just as it was written there.
Often I have joined in glorifying with the powers, and I was considered
worthy by the immeasurable majesties.
The steles are as follows:
THE FIRST STELE OF SETH
I praise you, father Geradamas,6
I, your son Emmacha Seth,7
1. Marsanes, which is the single text preserved in Nag Hammadi Codex X, is very fragmentary
and not included in this volume.
2. The Three Steles of Seth: Nag Hammadi Codex VII,5, pp. 118,10 to 127,27; translated from the
Coptic by Marvin Meyer.
3. Dositheos was a Samaritan religious leader and the teacher of Simon Magus. Simon Magus is
discussed in Acts of the Apostles 8 and elsewhere in early Christian literature.
4. Or "three pillars of Seth." Steles are monuments, well known in the Middle East, typically
with significant public inscriptions.
5. This phrase describes the gnostics, who cannot be shaken and do not waver in their commitments.
6. As in the Secret Book of John, Geradamas is the perfect exalted human, heavenly Adamas or
Adam, the father of Seth.
7. The meaning of Emmacha is unknown. Elsewhere in gnostic literature featuring Seth refer­ence
is also made to Emmacha Seth (in Zostrianos) or Eli Eli Machar Machar Seth (in the Bap­tismal
Ceremony of the Gospel of the Egyptians).

212. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
whom you produced without generation
for the praise of our god.
I am your son
and you are my mind, O my father.
I have sown and produced,
but you have seen the majesties
and have stood endlessly.
I praise you, father.
Praise me, father.
Because of you I am,
because of god you are,
because of you I am with him.
You are light and you see light.
You have revealed light.
You are a Mirotheas,
you are my Mirotheos.8
I praise you as god,
I praise your divinity.
Great is the good one, self-conceived,9 who stood,
the god who was first to stand.
You came in goodness,
you appeared
and you revealed goodness.
I shall speak your name,
you are a primary name.
You are unborn,
you have appeared to reveal the eternal.
You are who is,
so you have revealed those who really are.
You are uttered by a voice,
but by mind you are glorified.
You are powerful everywhere
so the world of senses also knows you,
because of you and your seed.
You are merciful
8. Forms of this name or epithet for the divine are also used in the Three Forms of First
Thought.
9. Coptic autogenes (from Greek).

213. 204 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
and from another race,10
and it is placed over another race.11
Now, you are from another race,
and it is placed over another race.
You are from another race,
you are different.
You are merciful,
you are eternal.
You are placed over a race,
you made all these increase
because of my seed,
and you know it is placed in generation.1'
But they are from other races,
they are different.
They are placed over other races,
they are placed in life.
You are a Mirotheos.
I praise its power given to me.
You who made the masculinities
that really are three times male,13
who were divided into five,14
who were given to us in triple power,
who were conceived without generation,
who came forth from the superior
10. Coptic kegenos, a term similar to Allogenes. Geradamas is Adam the stranger or foreigner
from the heavenly realm, and Sethians are said to belong to another race, the unshakable race
of perfect humankind.
11. The references here and in the following lines to "another race" indicate the divine realm of
the pleroma above, as well as the people of Seth here below. Heavenly Geradamas is from the
divine fullness above, and his seed, particularly heavenly Seth, is over the gnostic race of Sethi­ans.
In the Secret Book of John, Geradamas places his son Seth in a position of power in the
second aeon of the divine pleroma, with the luminary Oroiael, and the offspring of Seth are in
the third aeon, with the luminary Daveithai. The Sethian gnostics here below in turn trace their
origin from the offspring of Seth above.
12. The seed of Seth is "mortalized," placed in the realm of earthly procreation, in the Sethian
gnostics present in this world.
13. That is, triple male, a term of praise in which maleness symbolizes what is heavenly. This
term is used in the Secret Book of John and elsewhere.
14- In the Secret Book of John, the father's realm of five consists of Barbelo and the four spiri­tual
attributes requested by Barbelo. Elsewhere the five can indicate other divine attributes or
emanations, or even five seals, as at the end of the Secret Book of John.

214. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 2 0 5
and for the inferior entered the midst,
you are a parent through a parent,
a word from a command.
We praise you, triple male,
you have unified all through them all,
you have empowered us.
You came into being from One,15
from One you left.
You have come to One.
You have saved,
you have saved,
you have saved us,
you who are crowned and crown.
We praise you eternally,
we praise you,
we who are saved,
who are perfect beings,
who are perfect because of you,
who have become perfect with you.
You who are complete,
who complete,
who are perfect through all these,
who are everywhere similar,
triple male,
you have stood,
you were first to stand.
You have been divided everywhere,
you have remained one.
Whomever you wished
you have saved,
and you wish
that all who are worthy be saved.
You are perfect,
you are perfect,
you are perfect.
15. In the Three Steles of Seth the One is referred to in Coptic as oua (masculine) and ouei
(feminine), and as monas (from Greek), here and below.

215. 206 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
THE SECOND STELE OF SETH
Great is the first eternal realm,
male virgin Barbelo,16
the first glory of the invisible father.
You who are called perfect
first saw
that the one who really preexists
is not.17
From that one and through it
you have come into being first and forever,
you who are nonexistent from One, the indivisible, triple power.
You are a triple power,
you are a great One from a pure One.
You are a superior One,
first shadow of the holy father,
light from light.
We praise you,
maker of perfection,
donor of eternal realms.
You saw that those who are eternal
are from a shadow.
You have conferred multiplicity,
you have found and remained One,
while still conferring multiplicity through division.18
You are a threefold replication,
truly you are replicated three times.
You are One, of the One,
and you are from its shadow.
You are hidden,
you are a world of knowledge,
you know that those who are of the One are from shadow.
16. Barbelo is the divine mother, the first emanation or thought of the invisible father.
17. The divine is beyond existence.
18. These lines describe the mystery of how in a sense the One may also be three, how the sin­gular
may also be plural. Here the issue is in large part a neoplatonic, philosophical issue. In
other times and places the issue becomes a Christian issue, in trinitarian discussions.

216. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 207
And they are yours in your heart.
Because of them you made the eternal be,
you made divinity live,
you made knowledge good,
in blessedness you made the shadows flowing from the One.
You made one in understanding;
you made another in creation.
You made the equal and the unequal,
the similar and the different.
You have empowered in generation and formation,
by that which is, to others . ..
. . . and generation.
You have given these strength,
hidden in the heart,
and you came forth to them and from them.
You are divided among them
and become a great male first-appearing mind.
Father god,
divine child,
maker of multiplicity,
in dividing all those who really are,19
you revealed to them all a word.
You possess them all without birth,
eternally, imperishably.
Because of you salvation has come to us,
from you comes salvation.
You are wisdom,20
you are knowledge,
you are truth.
Because of you is life,
from you life.
Because of you is mind,
from you mind.
You are mind,
19. Or "all those who really exist."
20. Sophia.

217. 208 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
you are a world of truth.
You are a triple power,
you are a threefold replication,
truly you are replicated three times,
the eternal realm of eternal realms.
You alone see purely the first, undying, unborn ones
and the first divisions, as you were divided.
Unify us as you were unified.
Teach us what you see.
Give us strength so we may be saved to eternal life.
We are a shadow of you . ..
as you are a shadow of that first preexistent one.
Hear us first.
We are eternal.
Hear us as perfect beings.
You are the eternal realm of eternal realms,
the all-perfect one, who is established.
You have heard,
you have heard.
You have saved,
you have saved.
We give thanks,
we praise always,
we shall glorify you.
THE THIRD STELE OF SETH
We rejoice
we rejoice
we rejoice.
We saw
we saw
we saw what really preexists,
that it really is
and is the first eternal one.
You, unborn,
from you come the eternal ones
and eternal realms,

218. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
the all-perfect ones, who are established,
and the perfect beings.
We praise you, nonbeing,
reality before realities,
first being before beings,
father of divinity and life,
creator of mind,
donor of goodness,
donor of blessedness.
We all praise you,
you who know,
with glorifying praise,
you, because of whom all these are . ..
who know yourself through yourself alone.
There is nothing active prior to you.
You are spirit, alone and living.
You know the One,
that we cannot speak of this One,
which is yours everywhere.
Your light enlightens us.
Command us to see you
so we may be saved.
Knowledge of you is our salvation.
Command!
If you command,
we have been saved.
Truly we are saved
We have seen you through mind.
You are all these
and save them all,
you who will not be saved
nor have been saved by them.
You have commanded us.
You are One,
you are One,
as one might tell you,
you are One.

219. 210 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
You are a single, living spirit.
How shall we give you a name?21
We have none.
You are their existence,
you are their life,
you are their mind.22
In you they rejoice.
You ordered them saved
through your word . ..
the single glory, at the fore,
O hidden one, blessed Senaon, who conceived himself,23
Asineus
Mephneus
Optaon
Elemaon, the great power
Emouniar
Nibareus
Kandephoros
Aphredon
Deiphaneus
you who are my Armedon
you generator of powers
Thalanatheus
Antitheus.
You are in you,
you are before you,
and after you none have come to act.
How shall we praise you?
We cannot,
but we thank you,
we who are inferior.
For you commanded us,
21. The One, as in the Secret Book of John, is ineffable and transcends every finite name.
22. That is, you are existence, life, mind—the neoplatonic triad.
23. The section of the hymn that follows contains a series of spiritual or mystical names of
the divine; Asineus and Mephneus are partially restored. Such spiritual names are also used
in the hymns in Zostrianos and the Foreigner (Allogenes).

220. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 211
you who are our superior,
to glorify you
as best we can.
We praise you because we are saved
and we always glorify you.
Now we shall glorify you
that we be saved to eternal salvation.
We have praised you
for we can.
We have been saved.
You always wished
us to do it.
We have done it
Whoever remembers these24 and always glorifies will be perfect among the
perfect and free of suffering beyond all things. They all praise these, individu­ally
and collectively, and afterward they will be silent.
As assigned, they ascend. After silence, they descend from the third. They
praise the second, and afterward the first. The way of ascent is the way of
descent.25
So understand, as those who are alive, that you have succeeded. You have
taught yourselves about things infinite. Marvel at the truth within them, and
at the revelation.26
24. That is, "these steles."
25. This paragraph gives instructions for the order of the hymns, with intervening silence, in
the liturgy of ecstatic ascent and descent.
26. After a concluding title, the manuscript adds a scribal note that refers either to the Three
Steles of Seth or the codex in general: "This text belongs to the fatherhood; it is the son who
wrote it. Bless me, father. I bless you, father, in peace. Amen."

221. 9
The Vision or
the Foreigner
The Foreigner (or Allogenes) is another Sethian text of gnostic wis­dom,
of which the Vision is a part. In this text Allogenes the for­eigner
has a visionary experience of the divine, and at the end of
the text (not included here) it is said that he writes it down in the document
for his child Messos. The neoplatonist author Porphyry maintains that Ploti-nos
opposed gnostics who used revelations by Allogenes and Messos, among
others, and the present text may be one of the works referred to by Porphyry.
The role of Allogenes as foreigner or one from another race suggests that the
visionary protagonist of this text may be Seth—described in Genesis as "an­other
seed" in place of the dead Abel—or a follower of Seth, or every person,
every gnostic who follows the enlightened way of Sethian knowledge.
In the section of the text translated here, the foreigner has a vision of the
divine that recalls the Secret Book of John and other Sethian literature. Earlier
in the text the foreigner has been instructed in the proper method of medita­tion,
and now the foreigner employs this method in the visionary experience.
The visionary experience is understood not as an ascent upward through
stages of enlightenment but rather as an inner experience of deeper and
deeper insight. The foreigner thus envisions within self aspects of the divine,
in silence, as a part of the inner journey.
But the revelatory vision of god within is hardly the end of the experience.
The nature of the divine is explained, in more philosophical terms, by the

222. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 213
powers of the luminaries, who use language closely connected to that
of the opening portion of the Secret Book of John to explain the unexplain-able
and communicate what cannot be put into words. Whatever the divine is,
it is not this, it is not that. "It is not something that exists, which people can
understand, but something greater, which no one can understand."
The Foreigner is a Coptic text in the Nag Hammadi library, and like other
texts in the Nag Hammadi library, it was most likely composed in Greek.
Karen L. King suggests a date of composition in the first quarter of the third
century to correspond with the likelihood that Plotinos knew of the text. She
also suggests, more tentatively, that the text may have been written in Egypt,
possibly in Alexandria.1
VISION OF THE FOREIGNER2
Through a primary revelation of the first one,3 which is unknown to all, I saw
the god that is greater than perfection, and the triple power4 that exists in all.
I was seeking the ineffable, unknowable god, of which people are ignorant
even if they understand it at all, the mediation of the triple power, which is
located in stillness and silence and is unknowable.
When I was empowered by these things, the powers of the luminaries5 said
to me, You have done enough to hinder the inactivity that is in you by seeking
what is incomprehensible. Rather, hear about it, as is possible, through a pri­mary
revelation and a revelation.6
Does it7 exist through its own being, or does it exist and will it come fur­ther
into being? Does it act? Does it know? Is it alive? For it has no mind, no
life, nothing real—and nothing unreal, incomprehensibly. Does it come from
what it has? No, there is nothing at all left over, as if it causes something to be
undertaken, or it purifies something, or it receives or gives something. Nor is
i. King, Revelation of the Unknowable God, pp. 60-61.
2. Vision of the Foreigner: Nag Hammadi Codex XI,3, pp. 6i,8 to 64,1; translated from the
Coptic by Marvin Meyer.
3. The invisible spirit.
4. Forethought, or Barbelo.
5. In Sethian texts the luminaries are Harmozel, Oroiael, Daveithai, and Eleleth.
6. The primary revelation seems to be a visual disclosure, the revelation an oral disclosure.
7. That is, the invisible spirit. Much of what follows in the Vision of the Foreigner resembles the
opening portion of the Secret Book of John.

223. 214 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
it limited by its own desire or by giving or by receiving from another. Its desire
is not from itself, nor does desire come to it from anything else, yet it does not
give anything of itself, or it would be limited. Thus it has no need of mind or
life or anything, for it is greater than all in its ultimacy and incomprehensibil­ity,
in nonexistent reality. It has silence and stillness not to be limited by the
unlimited.
It is not divinity or blessedness or perfection; rather, it is something un­knowable.
Not that it has this, but it is greater than blessedness and divinity
and perfection. It is not perfect, but greater. It is not infinite or limited by an­other,
but greater. It is not corporeal and is not incorporeal. It is not large and
it is not small. It is not quantifiable, not a created thing. It is not something
that exists, which people can understand, but something greater, which no
one can understand. It is a first revelation and knowledge of itself, since it
alone understands itself. For it is not among the things that exist, but is greater
among what is greater. And it is like what it has and unlike what it has. It is not
part of an eternal realm nor time, and it receives nothing from anyone. It is
not limited, nor does it limit, nor is it illimitable.
It is self-knowledge, since it is unknowable, and it is greater than what is
good in its unknowability, having blessedness and perfection and silence—
not blessedness or perfection or stillness, but something that is, that no one
can understand, being at rest.

224. 10
The Sermon of
Zostrianos
his concluding portion of the long Sethian text Zostrianos
provides a fine example of a gnostic sermon. The figure named
Zostrianos was said to have been an older relative (perhaps a
T
grandfather or uncle) of the Persian religious teacher Zoroaster, or Zarathus-tra,
the founder of the Zoroastrian religion. Zoroaster himself is mentioned,
along with Zostrianos, in the set of cryptographic titles and descriptions after
the conclusion of the text. Revelations by Zostrianos and Zoroaster are also re­ferred
to by Porphyry in his Life ofPlotinos as texts known to neoplatonists,
and Porphyry claims that Plotinos's student Amelios wrote as many as forty
volumes refuting the book of Zostrianos.
Although the text of Zostrianos is poorly preserved and in fragmentary
condition, parts of the text are quite legible, including the beginning, where
the author, writing in the name of Zostrianos, recounts his call. Once he was
in the desert, meditating on deep questions, when he grew profoundly de­pressed,
to the point of contemplating suicide. Suddenly an angel appears to
him, "the angel of the knowledge of the eternal light," and this angel guides
Zostrianos in an out-of-the-body journey up through the heavenly realms. As
he ascends, Zostrianos is baptized at the various stages of ascent into the
knowledge of the divine. After a series of revelatory experiences, in which Zos­trianos
learns about the meaning of the universe and the divine realms, which
are populated with the usual Sethian characters, Zostrianos returns down to

225. 2l6 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
this world and his body. Now enlightened, Zostrianos preaches the impas­sioned
gnostic sermon given here, in order to awaken lost people to saving
knowledge.
The text of Zostrianos survives in Coptic in the Nag Hammadi library. It
was composed in Greek some time before it became known, in the latter half
of the third century, to Plotinos and his students. Despite the suggestion that
the text tells the story of the Persian sage Zostrianos, the text is a pseudony­mous
composition, and its actual place of composition is unknown.
THE SERMON OF
ZOSTRIANOS1
A lost crowd I2 awakened, saying,
You who are alive, holy offspring of Seth,3
understand this. Do not turn a deaf ear to me.
Awaken your divinity to divinity
and strengthen your undefiled chosen souls.
Observe the constant change that is here
and seek the unchanging state of being unborn.
The father of all these beings invites you.
When you are being rebuked and maltreated,
he will not forsake you.
Do not wash yourselves4 with death,
nor rely on those who are inferior
as if they were superior.
Flee from the madness and the fetter of femaleness
and choose the salvation of maleness.5
i. The Sermon of Zostrianos: Nag Hammadi Codex VIII,i, pp. 130,14 to 132,5; translated from
the Coptic by Marvin Meyer.
2. The speaker is thought to be Zostrianos, now back in the body and enlightened after his
heavenly trip.
3. This phrase designates the Sethian gnostics.
4. Or "baptize yourselves."
5. Femaleness may symbolize this world, maleness the world above, in Zostrianos and other
texts, for example, Gospel of Thomas 114.

226. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 217
You have come not to suffer
but to break your fetters.
Break free, and what has bound you will be broken.
Save yourselves so that part6 may be saved.
The good father has sent you the savior
and has strengthened you.
Why are you waiting? Seek when you are sought.
When you are invited, listen, for the time is short.
Do not be led astray.
Great is the eternal realm of the eternal realms
of the living,
but great also is the punishment of the unconvinced.
Many fetters and punishers surround you.
Get away quickly before destruction overtakes you.
Look to the light, fly from the darkness.
Do not be led astray to destruction.
6. That is, the soul or spiritual part of a person.

227. 11
The Baptismal
Ceremony of the
Gospel of the
Egyptians
I he Gospel of the Egyptians, or, more accurately, the Holy Book
I of the Great Invisible Spirit, is a Sethian text that includes a bap-
JtL. tismal ceremony showing, in part, how a Sethian gnostic baptism
might have been celebrated. Sethian and other gnostic texts refer to baptism
and the importance of baptism. In the Secret Book of John, for example, the
awakened person is raised and sealed "in luminous water with five seals, that
death might not prevail over the person from that moment on." Another
Sethian text, the Three Forms of First Thought, describes gnostic baptism in
a series of ceremonial acts: stripping off the darkness, dressing in a robe of
light, being baptized or washed in the water of life, and being enthroned,
glorified, raised, and sealed with five seals. The point of baptism, the Three
Forms of First Thought suggests, is knowledge and enlightenment.
The Baptismal Ceremony of the Gospel of the Egyptians opens with a list
of the dignitaries who stand in attendance during the baptismal ceremony.

228. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 219
The list includes figures well known from Sethian lore, for example, the four
luminaries Harmozel, Oroiael, Daveithai, and Eleleth. The last such figure is
Yoel, who is stationed over the name of the one baptizing "with the holy,
incorruptible baptism that surpasses heaven." The balance of the Baptismal
Ceremony of the Gospel of the Egyptians consists mainly of a hymn that is
apparently uttered by the person being baptized. The hymn is an ecstatic
statement of confession and praise, and it incorporates, after the manner of
some other gnostic texts and magical texts of ritual power, the chanting of the
(Greek) vowels. However this baptismal ceremony was enacted (or under­stood
on a metaphoric level, rather than literally enacted), baptism is here
portrayed as an ecstatic celebration. As the text puts it, those baptized "have
been instructed and have understood, and they will not taste death."
The Gospel of the Egyptians was composed in Greek, but the circum­stances
of composition are unknown. The text is now represented in two Cop­tic
versions in the Nag Hammadi library.
THE BAPTISMAL CEREMONY
OF THE GOSPEL OF
THE EGYPTIANS1
Through forethought Seth established what is holy and the baptism that sur­passes
the heavens—through what is holy, through what is incorruptible, and
through Jesus,2 who has been conceived by a living word3 and with whom
great Seth has been clothed. He has nailed down the powers of the thirteen
realms and neutralized them; through him they are brought in and taken out.
And they are equipped with armor of the knowledge of truth, with incorrupt­ible,
invincible power.
i. The Baptismal Ceremony of the Gospel of the Egyptians: Nag Hammadi Codex IV,2, pp.
75,24 to 80,15; translated by Marvin Meyer. The text is preserved in Nag Hammadi Codex 111,2
and Codex IV,2: this translation is based mainly on the version found in Nag Hammadi Codex
IV, though the Codex III version has also been consulted and used for lines of the ceremony
not found in Codex IV.
2. Or "the living Jesus" (more clearly in Nag Hammadi Codex III). This phrase also occurs in
the prologue of the Gospel of Thomas.
3. If "Jesus" is read as "the living Jesus," above, then "living word" may be read simply as "word."

229. 2 2 0 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
THE HEAVENLY ATTENDANTS
These have been revealed4 as dignitaries standing in attendance:
Yesseus Mazareus Yessedekeus, the living water,
the great commanders, great Jacob,5 Theopemptos, and Isaouel,
one stationed over grace, Mep el,6
those stationed over the springs of truth, Micheus, Michar, and
Mnesinous,
one stationed over the baptism of the living, the purifier Sesengen-barpharanges,
7
those stationed over the gates of the waters of life, Miseus and Michar,
those stationed over the ascent, Seldao and Elainos,
those receiving the holy race and the incorruptible, mighty people of
great Seth,
the ministers of the four luminaries, great Gamaliel, great Gabriel,
great Samblo, and great Abrasax,8
those stationed over sunrise, Olses, Hymneus, and Heurumaious,
those stationed over the entrance into the state of rest of eternal life,
Phritanis, Mixanther, and Michanor,
the guardians of chosen9 souls, Akraman and Strempsouchos,
the great power Telmachael Telmachael Eli Eli Machar Machar Seth,
the great one, invisible, incorruptible, unnamable, who is in spirit and
silence,
the great luminary, Harmozel, where there is the living self-conceived
god in truth, with whom is the incorruptible human Adamas,
second, Oroiael, where there is great Seth and Jesus of life, who has
come and crucified what is under the law,
third, Daveithai, where the children of great Seth are at rest,
fourth, Eleleth, where the souls of the children are at rest,10
4. Possibly "revealed to me."
5. Coptic Yakob (Yakobos) in Nag Hammadi Codex III (from Greek) can be Jacob or James.
James is also discussed in Gospel of Thomas 12 and the Secret Book of James.
6. This name cannot be completely restored.
7. This name is commonly found in Greek and Coptic magical texts of ritual power, and proba­bly
derives from Aramaic.
8. The name Abrasax is a common name of power; see the Revelation of Adam, note 37.
9. The reading in Nag Hammadi Codex III; Codex IV reads "slain."
10. The four names in these lines are the names of the luminaries.

230. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 221
fifth, Yoel, stationed over the name of the one who will be ordained to
baptize with the holy, incorruptible baptism that surpasses heaven.
But from now on, through the holy, incorruptible Poimael,11 for those
worthy of baptisms of renunciation and the ineffable seals of their baptism,
they have known those who receive them, as they have been instructed and
have understood, and they will not taste death.
BAPTISMAL CEREMONIAL HYMN
Yesseus
EOEOUOOUA
in truth truly
Yesseus Mazareus Yessedekeus
living water
child of the child
name of all glories
in truth truly
eternal being
I I I I
EEEE
EEEE
OOOO
UUUU
OOOO
AAAA,
in truth truly
EIAAAAOOOO1 2
being who sees the eternal realms
in truth truly
A
EE
EEE
11. This name resembles the name Poimandres in Hermetic literature.
12. Perhaps (from Greek), "You are alpha (four times), omega (four times)." Because alpha and
omega are, respectively, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, they can symbolize the
first and the last, the beginning and the end, as in Revelation i:8, 21:6, 22:13, and other texts. See
Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, p. 118.

231. dL JZ* J*i LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
mi
uuuuuu
ooooooo13
being who exists forever
in truth truly
IEAAIO1 4
in the heart
being
U15
forever and ever
you are what you are
you are who you are.
This great name of yours is upon me,
You, self-conceived,
lacking nothing,
being independent,
invisible to all except me,
invisible to all.
Who comprehends you in speech or praise?
Having known you,
I now have mingled with your constancy.
I have armed myself,
and have put on armor of grace and light
and have become bright.
The mother16 was there for the lovely beauty of grace.
So I stretch out my two hands.
I am formed in the circle of the riches of light
in my chest,
13. The (Greek) vowels in sequence; five omicrons are expected after 1111, in order to maintain
the sequence (one alpha, two epsilons, etc.). In texts of ritual power such vowels may be
arranged for visual effectiveness, in this case perhaps in the form of a pyramid.
14. Bohlig and Wisse, eds., NagHammadi Codices 111,2 and IV,2, p. 201, suggest that these enig­matic
lines, beginning here and extending to the end of the stanza, may be translated as fol­lows:
"Jesus, you eternal realm (aeon), who are in the heart, eternal one, son forever and ever,
you are what you are, you are who you are."
15. Upsilon.
16. Forethought, Barbelo; forethought is referred to at the beginning of the baptismal cere­mony
and throughout Sethian literature.

232. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 223
giving form to the many beings produced in light beyond reproach.
In truth I shall declare your glory,
I have comprehended you—
yours,17 Jesus;
look,
eternal O18
eternal E19
Jesus
0 eternal realm, eternal realm,
god of silence,
1 honor you completely.
You are my place of rest,
child,
E S E S20
the E21
formless one existing among formless ones,
raising the person by whom you will purify me into your life,
according to your imperishable name.
So the sweet smell of life lies in me.
I have mixed it with water as a model for all the rulers,
that I may live with you in the peace of saints,
you who are forever
in truth truly.
17. Coptic sou (from Greek) may be so translated, or it may be left as glossolalia, "SOU."
18. Omega.
19. Epsilon. The numerical value of the letter epsilon is five; this may recall the realm of five in
the Secret Book of John.
20. The meaning of these letters, if there is a rational meaning, is unknown. Bohlig and Wisse,
eds., Nag Hammadi Codices 111,2 and IV,2, p. 204, speculate that the letters could designate the
heavenly figure Esephech, but this identification remains uncertain.
21. Epsilon, as above.

233. 12
Thunder
r | 1
I hunder (or Thunder: Perfect Mind) is a sacred text of paradox
I and antithesis, with few obvious characteristics of Jewish, Christ-
JL, ian, or gnostic themes. However, gnostic ideas such as liberation
from the material world, a pantheistic deity that permeates matter and life,
and the promise of salvation of return distinguish it from traditional religious
poems. Hence we may recognize gnostic and even Sethian themes in Thunder.
The speaker is a woman, and while there are diverse views on her identity—
appropriate in a riddle poem—we favor those who find in her a concealed
Sophia, after her fall, carrying her spark into the world of body, what Bentley
Layton calls "a manifestation of wisdom and Barbelo in gnostic myth."l How­ever,
her mystery is that one cannot know for certain who she is and whom she
represents. In being that mystery she transcends sects.
George W. MacRae discerns the formal qualities and the transcendence of
this poem:
While the Jewish wisdom literature and the Isis aretalogies pro­vide
texts which are parallel in tone and style, the particular sig­nificance
of the self-proclamations of Thunder, Perfect Mind
may be found in their antithetical character. Antithesis and par­adox
may be used to proclaim the absolute transcendence of the
i. Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, p. 77.

234. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 225
revealer, whose greatness is incomprehensible and whose being
is unfathomable.2
Thunder is a universal poem, a shout that is at once unique and yet has
parallels in world literature ancient and modern. Commentators on Thunder
have looked to Sanskrit, Egyptian, and Jewish religious literature to find
equivalents for its pervasive use of oxymoron, antithesis, and paradox. How­ever,
it is not necessary to confine oneself to religious sources for precedents,
since these rhetorical tropes are standard in classical and later literature, and
their enunciation in the terms we still use today was established by Greek
grammarians in hellenistic Alexandria on the basis of examples drawn from
Greek poetry, from Sappho to Pindar. The author of Thunder wrote in Greek,
and his poem follows the prosody of Greek verse. As an obscure imitator of
Greek and Hebrew expression, the author reproduced the forms and breath
of Pindar and the verbal elan of the biblical prophets.
Thunder is a strange book whose voice is that of a powerful, confessional
Sophia figure who takes on the world with extraordinary vigor and piercing
candor. She is not an aloof prophet or a cloistered sibyl, but an assertive
woman engaged in all strata of human society. In the course of Thunder, the
woman relentlessly contradicts herself: "What you see outdoors you see
within you," or "I am speech undecipherable," or "I am below and they come
up to me." And she shows no remorse for her dissenting ways. Although the
author's sex is unknown, the female voice in the text speaks for herself, and as
such is an early instance of complete female empowerment, without apology
or compromise. She speaks a metaphysical tour de force, a sermon singing
the self in which the woman is the universal paradigm. Her presence adds ev­idence
to Elaine Pagels's persuasive assertion of women's freer role in gnosti­cism,
which she documents in The Gnostic Gospels. What can be said with
certainty is that the woman of Thunder represents a great woman's voice in
antiquity.
The woman in Thunder prepares her "interior bread and mind." She has
no shame in being seen anywhere provided that she follows her spiritual con­victions,
even if "cast down on the earth" and "lying on animal dung." She
sternly abuses and demeans herself yet affirms herself. She is the disgraced and
2. In Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library in English, ist ed., p. 271.

235. 226 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
the grand being. She is whore and holy. Throwing us off stride, she claims to
be the mother of her father. Finally, in her tractate of paradox, she reassures by
announcing that she is the knowledge of her search. And crucially she of the
perfect mind tells of the good reward for turning to her sumptuous spirit:
"There they will find me and live, and they will not die again."
The paradoxical self-declaration of the speaker as wife and virgin, mother
and daughter, and midwife, is paralleled in the text On the Origin of the
World.
THUNDER3
I was sent out from the power
and have come to you who study me
and am found by you who seek me.
Look at me, you who study me,
and you who hear, hear me.
You waiting for me, take me into yourselves.
Don't banish me from your vision.
Don't let hatred enter your voice against me
or let anger enter your hearing.
In no place, in no time, be unknowing of me.
Be alert. Don't be ignorant of me.4
I am the first and the last.
I am the honored and scorned.
I am the whore and holy.
I am the wife and the virgin.
I am the mother and daughter.
I am the members of my mother
and the barren one with many sons.
I have had a grand wedding
and have not found a husband.
I am a midwife and do not give birth.
3. Thunder: Nag Hammadi Codex VI,2, pp. 13,1 to 21,32; translated from the Coptic by George
W. MacRae in Robinson, ed., Nag Hammadi Library in English, rev. ed., pp. 297-303; revised in
verse by Willis Barnstone.
4. Much of this language recalls the role of wisdom in Jewish wisdom literature.

236. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 227
I am the solace of my labor pains.
I am bride and groom,
and my husband produced me.
I am the mother of my father
and sister of my husband,
and he is my offspring.
I am a slave of him who prepared me
and ruler of my offspring.
He produced me earlier yet on my birthday.
He is my offspring to come,
and from him is my power.
I am the staff of his power in his youth
and he the rod of my old age,
and whatever he wants happens to me.5
I am a silence incomprehensible
and an idea remembered often.
I am the voice whose sound is manifold
and word whose appearance is multiple.
I am the utterance of my name.
Why do you who hate me love me
and hate those who love me?
You who deny me confess me,
and you who confess me deny me.
You who tell the truth about me lie about me,
and you who lie tell the truth.
You who know me,
be ignorant of me, and those who have not known me,
let them know me.
I am knowledge and ignorance.
I am shame and fearlessness.
I am shameless and ashamed.
I am strength and fear.
I am war and peace.
Hear what I say.
I am the disgraced and the grand being.
5. These paradoxical lines are paralleled in On the Origin of the World.

237. 228 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Consider my poverty and wealth.
Don't be arrogant when I am cast down on the earth,
and you will find me in those who are to come.
Don't stare at me lying on a dung heap.
Don't run off and cast me away.
In the kingdoms you will find me.
Don't stare when I am cast with the disgraced
in the most sordid places
or laugh at me.
Don't throw me out among those violently slaughtered.
I am compassionate and cruel.
Be careful.
Don't hate my obedience
or love my self-control.
When I am weak, don't forsake me
or fear my power.
Why do you despise my fear
and curse my pride?
I am a woman existing in every fear
and in my strength when I tremble.
I am a woman, weak,
and carefree in a pleasant place.
I am senseless and wise.
Why have you hated me in your counsels?
I will be silent among the silent
and appear and speak.
Greeks, why do you hate me?
Because I am a barbarian among the barbarians?
I am the wisdom of Greeks and knowledge of barbarians.
I am the judgment of Greeks and barbarians.
My image is great in Egypt, and I have no image among the barbarians.
I am hated everywhere and loved everywhere.
I am called life6 and you have called me death.
6. Zoe, Greek for "life," is the name for Eve in Genesis. She plays a leading role in the Secret
Book of John and elsewhere.

238. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 229
I am called law and you have called me lawlessness.
I am one you pursued and seized.7
I am one you scattered and gathered together.
I am one before whom you are ashamed,
and to me you are shameless.
I am the woman who attends no festival
and whose festivals are many.
I am godless and one whose god is great.
I am one you studied and you scorn me.
I am unlettered and you learn from me.
I am one you despise and you study me.
I am one you hide from and you appear to me.
When you hide I show.
When you appear I hide
Take me into understanding from grief,
and take me from understanding and grief.
Receive me into yourselves from other places
ugly and destroyed.
And steal from the good even in their ugliness.
Out of shame take me to yourselves shamelessly.
Without shame and with shame, rebuke what is mine
in you
and come to me, you who know me
and you who know my members,
and make great ones among small first creatures.
Come to childhood
and don't despise it, because it is small and tiny.
Don't turn away the great in parts from the small,
for the small is known from the great.
Why do you curse and honor me?
You wound me and have mercy.
Don't separate me from the first you have known.
Don't cast out or turn away,
turn away and not know....
7- Eve is often described as being seized or raped in gnostic literature.

239. 230 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
I know the first ones,
and those after them know me.
I am perfect mind and rest
I am the knowledge of my search,
the finding of those who look for me,
the command of those who ask about me,
the power of powers
in my knowledge of angels sent at my word,
and of gods in their seasons sent by my counsel,
and of spirits of all who exist with me
and of women who live in me.
I am one who is honored, praised, and scornfully despised.
I am peace, and war has come because of me.
I am alien8 and citizen.
I am the substance and one without substance.
Those unconnected to me are unfamiliar with me,
and those in my substance know me.
Those close to me are ignorant of me,
and those far away have known me.
On the day I am close to you, you are far,
and on the day I am far, I am close to you.
I am . . . within.
I am . . . of natures.
I am . . . of created spirits,
the request of souls.
I am control and the uncontrollable.
I am union and dissolution.
I abide and dissolve.
I am below and they come up to me.
I am judgment and acquittal.
I am sinless,
and the root of sin comes from me.
I am lust outwardly, yet within me is control.
8. The reference to the alien recalls the Foreigner (Allogenes) and the concept of the alien or
stranger elsewhere in gnostic literature; see the Vision of the Foreigner in this volume.

240. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 231
I am hearing for all, and my speech is indecipherable.
I am an unspeaking mute
and enormous in my many words.
Hear me in gentleness and discover me in roughness.
I am the woman crying out
and cast upon the face of the earth.
I prepare bread and my mind within.
I am the knowledge of my name.
I am the one who cries out
and I listen.
I appear . . . walk in . . . I am . . . the defense.
I am called truth and iniquity....
You honor me and whisper against me.
You, the vanquished, judge those who vanquish you
before they judge you,
because in you the judge and partiality exist.
If you are condemned by one, who will acquit you?
If acquitted by him, who will arrest you?
What is in you is outside,
and one who fashions you on the outside
shapes you inside.9
What you see outside you see within you.10
It is visible and your garment.
Hear me, hearers,
and find out about my words, you who know me.
I am the hearing all can reach;
I am speech undecipherable.
I am the name of the sound
and the sound of the name.
I am the sign of the letter
and the designation of the division.
I . . . light... great power . . . will not move the name...
to the one who created me.
9. This statement is similar to Gospel of Thomas 22, 89.
10. This statement recalls Gospel of Thomas 3, on the kingdom, and the Gospel of Mary, on the
human child.

241. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
I will speak his name.
Look at his words and all the writings completed.
Be alert, hearers and angels and those sent
and you spirits arisen from the dead.
I alone exist and have no one to judge me.
Many pleasures exist in many sins,
uncontrolled passions and disgraceful desires
and brief pleasures
embraced by people until they sober up
and float up to their place of rest.
There they will find me and live, and they will not die again.

242. 13
The Letter of
Peter to Philip
I he Letter of Peter to Philip is a short text that relates traditions
I about the Christian messengers (or apostles) and incorporates
JL. other revelatory materials in order to proclaim a message of gnos­tic
wisdom. In the text, as in other Christian traditions, Peter is the leader of
the messengers, and his letter to Philip underscores his authority. Here Philip
is portrayed with features both of Philip the student in the New Testament
gospels and of Philip the evangelist in the Acts of the Apostles.
The Letter of Peter to Philip calls to mind the New Testament Acts of the
Apostles and the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. In the present text, too, Peter
and the other messengers are eating, talking, praying, going to temple, and
teaching and healing together in the period following the suffering and death
of Jesus. At the end of the present text, they disperse to preach and, perhaps, to
write the four gospels.
As they gather together, Jesus appears as light and voice, and he answers
their questions with enlightened knowledge. The revelation about the defi­ciency
of the aeons, though abbreviated, summarizes the story of the fall of
the mother as told in dramatic detail in the Secret Book of John. In the ab­breviated
story in the Letter of Peter to Philip the names are not given, and
the anonymity of the characters in the drama is maintained. The revelation
about the fullness of the divine rehearses themes much like those in the
hymn to the word in the Gospel of John: the savior is the incarnate deity who

243. 234 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
travels incognito through this world and speaks with those who will listen. In
particular there is one who listens, a prototypal listener, who was lacking but
now is filled. Peter's sermon on the suffering of Jesus and of Christians is es­pecially
appropriate for the community of the Letter of Peter to Philip. This is
an embattled group, which is fighting against the rulers. It is to struggling be­lievers
that Jesus is made to offer peace, and to promise joy, grace, and power.
The Letter of Peter to Philip was probably composed in Greek, most likely
sometime in the second or third century, but at present exists only in Coptic.
Where it was composed is unknown.
THE LETTER OF
PETERTO PHILIP1
Peter,2 messenger3 of Jesus the anointed,4 to Philip,5 our beloved brother and
our fellow messenger, and the brothers who are with you: greetings.
I want you to understand, our brother, that we received orders from our
lord, the savior of the whole world, that we should come together to teach and
preach concerning the salvation that was promised us by our lord Jesus the
anointed. But you were separated from us, and you did not wish us to come
together and learn how to orient ourselves that we might tell the good news.6
So would it be agreeable to you, our brother, to come according to the orders
of our god Jesus?
When Philip received and read this, he went to Peter, rejoicing with glad­ness.
Then Peter gathered the others. They went to the mountain called Olivet,
where they used to gather with the blessed anointed one when he was in the
body.
i. The Letter of Peter to Philip: Nag Hammadi Codex VIII,2, pp. 132,10 to 140,27; translated
from the Coptic by Marvin Meyer. Another Coptic copy of this text has been announced by
James M. Robinson and Stephen Emmel, but at present it remains unavailable.
2. As in the New Testament Acts of the Apostles, Peter is a leader of the messengers (or apostles).
3. Apostle.
4. Christ.
5. This portrait of Philip has features both of Philip the disciple in the New Testament gospels
and of Philip the evangelist in the Acts of the Apostles.
6. That is, the gospel.

244. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 235
When the messengers came together and fell on their knees, they prayed in
this way, saying,
Father, father, father of the light,
you who possess the incorruptions, hear us,
just as you have taken pleasure
in your holy child Jesus the anointed.
For he has become for us a luminary7 in the darkness.
Yes, hear us.
And they resumed again and prayed, saying,
Child of life, child of immortality,
you who are in the light,
child, deathless anointed, our redeemer,
give us strength,
because they are searching for us to kill us.
Then a great light appeared, and the mountain shone from the vision of
the one who appeared. And a voice called out to them, saying, "Listen to my
words that I may speak to you. Why are you looking for me? I am Jesus the
anointed, who is with you forever."
The messengers answered and said, "Lord, we would like to understand
the deficiency of the realms8 and their fullness. And how are we detained in
this dwelling place? How have we come to this place? In what way shall we
leave? How do we possess the authority of boldness? Why do the powers fight
against us?"9
Then a voice called to them from the light, saying, "You bear witness that I
have said all these things to you. But because of your unbelief I shall speak
again.
THE DEFICIENCY OF THE AEONS
"To begin with, concerning the deficiency of the aeons, this is the deficiency.
When the disobedience and the foolishness of the mother10 appeared, without
7. Or "light, illuminator."
8. Aeons.
9. For other examples of such a list of questions, see the Secret Book of John, the Gospel of
Truth, and the Book of Thomas.
10. The mother recalls mother Sophia and mother Eve in the Secret Book of John, Genesis, and
other texts.

245. 236 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
the command of the majesty of the father, she wanted to set up eternal realms.
When she spoke, the arrogant one11 followed. But when she left behind a por­tion,
the arrogant one grabbed it, and it became a deficiency. This is the defi­ciency
of the aeons.
"When the arrogant one took a portion, he sowed it. He placed powers and
authorities over it, and he confined it within the mortal realms. All the powers
of the world rejoiced that they had been brought forth. But they do not know
the preexistent father, since they are strangers to him. Rather, he was given
power, and they served him and praised him.
"But the arrogant one grew proud because of the praise of the powers.
He was jealous and wanted to make an image in place of an image and a
form in place of a form.12 He assigned the powers within his authority to
mold mortal bodies. And they came into being from a misrepresentation of
the appearance.13
THE FULLNESS
"Concerning the fullness, it is I.14 I was sent down in the body for the seed
that had fallen away. And I came down to their mortal model. But they did
not recognize me, thinking I was a mortal. I spoke with the one who is mine,
and the one who is mine listened to me just as you also who have listened
to me today. And I gave him authority to enter into the inheritance of his fa­therhood.
And I took him . . . filled . . . through his salvation. Since he was de­ficiency,
he became fullness.
"Concerning the fact that you are being detained, it is because you are
mine. When you strip yourselves of what is corruptible, you will become lu­minaries15
in the midst of mortals.
"Concerning the fact that you will fight against the powers, it is because
they do not have rest like you, since they do not want you saved."
11. Coptic authades (from Greek). The arrogance of the creator of this world is amply demon­strated
in the Secret Book of John.
12. On the jealousy of the creator of this world, see the Secret Book of John ("I am a jealous god").
On "an image in place of an image and a form in place of a form," see Gospel of Thomas 22.
13. This description brings to mind the vision of the image of the human in the water in the
Secret Book of John.
14. On this entire passage about the fullness see John 1.
15. Or "lights, illuminators."

246. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 237
FIGHTING THE RULERS
The messengers worshiped again, saying, "Lord, tell us, how shall we fight
against the rulers, since the rulers are over us?"
A voice called out to them from the appearance, saying, "You must fight
against them like this, for the rulers fight against the inner person. You must
fight against them like this: come together and teach salvation in the world
with a promise. And arm yourselves with my father's power, and express your
prayer, and surely the father will help you, as he helped you by sending me.16
Do not be afraid. I am with you forever, as I already said to you when I was in
the body."17
Then came lightning and thunder from heaven, and what appeared to
them there was taken up to heaven.
THE MESSENGERS RETURN TO JERUSALEM
The messengers thanked the lord with every praise, and they returned to
Jerusalem.
Now, as they were going up, they spoke with each other on the way about
the light that had appeared. And a statement was made about the lord. It was
said, "If even our lord suffered, how much more are we to suffer?"
Peter answered, saying, "He suffered for us, and we must also suffer for our
smallness."18
Then a voice called to them, saying, "I often told you that you must suffer.
You must be brought to synagogues and governors so that you will suffer. But
the one who will not suffer will n o t . . . my father...."
And the messengers rejoiced greatly, and they went up to Jerusalem. They
went up to the temple and taught salvation in the name of the lord Jesus the
anointed. And they healed a crowd.
16. The battle is essentially spiritual. A spiritual battle is also described in Ephesians 6:10-20.
17. Partially restored; see Frederik Wisse in Sieber, ed., NagHammadi Codex VIII, 245.
18. Or "pettiness." Here smallness or pettiness is synonymous with deficiency. Jesus suffered be­cause
of human beings, and human beings suffer because of their own deficiencies, traceable to
the transgression of the mother.

247. 238 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
PETER PREACHES
Now, Peter opened his mouth and said to his students,19 "When our lord Jesus
was in the body, he revealed everything to us. He came down. My brothers, lis­ten
to my voice."
And he was filled with holy spirit and spoke in this way: "Our luminary20
Jesus came down and was crucified. He wore a crown of thorns, was clothed in
a purple robe, crucified upon a cross, and buried in a tomb. And he rose from
the dead.
"My brothers, Jesus is a stranger to this suffering. But we are the ones who
have suffered through the mother's transgression.21 And for this reason he did
everything like us. The lord Jesus, child of the father's immeasurable glory, is
the author of our life.
"My brothers, let us not listen to these lawless ones and walk "
THE MESSENGERS DISPERSE TO PREACH
Peter assembled the others and said, "Our lord Jesus the anointed, author of
our rest, give us a spirit of understanding, so we also may perform great
deeds."
Then Peter and the other messengers saw and were filled with holy spirit.
And each one performed healings. And they left to preach the lord Jesus.22
They gathered with their companions and greeted them, saying, "Amen."
Then Jesus appeared, saying to them, "Peace be with all of you and every­one
who believes in my name. When you go, you will have joy and grace and
power. Do not be afraid. Look, I am with you forever."
The messengers parted from each other with four words,23 to preach. And
they went in the power of Jesus, in peace.
19. Or "his fellow students." Either Peter has his own students, or he and the others together are
students of Jesus.
20. Or "light, illuminator."
21. Sophia or Eve.
22. These lines are similar to the scene in which holy spirit is imparted in John 20; also see the
Pentecost story in Acts of the Apostles 2.
23. Literally, "into four words," perhaps "with four messages" or "in four directions." This may
be a reference to four gospels for the whole world. The point of the passage seems to be that the
messengers are to preach a universal message of power.

248. Valentinian Literature
14
The Gospel of Truth
I he Gospel of Truth, a work of consummate artistry, is an early
I discourse on Christian gnostic mysticism and remains a key
JH philosophical and literary document in the history of Valentinian
gnostic speculation. Incorporating much of the technical language of Valen­tinian
gnosticism, the Gospel of Truth presents its ideas in a nontechnical way
as the proclamation of the meaning of Jesus for Valentinian Christians. This is
a pivotal work, reinterpreting Jewish apocalyptic Christianity as Jewish gnos­tic
Christianity. A deeply gnostic tractate, seminally influenced by Johannine
literature, the Gospel of Truth maps a way of knowing the father through the
word of gnosis, which is mystical knowledge.
Written in Greek in the mid-second century, between about 140 and 180
CE, the Gospel of Truth was found among the documents at Nag Hammadi in
Egypt and exists in its totality in Coptic translation. In addition, Irenaeus
refers to a Gospel of Truth read among Valentinians in his tract Against Here­sies
3.11.9-
Scholars have advanced arguments for assigning the work to Valentinos
himself, rather than to one of his students. Valentinos, a mediator between
gnosticized and traditional Christianity, was born in Alexandria and from
about 135 practiced his gnostic interpretation of Christianity in Rome. Al­though
Valentinians were attacked by traditional Christians for their mythic
theology as early as 160, they did not initially separate on their own from
Christians, and some held ecclesiastical ranks in the Roman church. They
called themselves the students of Christ, were largely from the middle and
lower classes, and resembled other Christians in many respects.

249. 240 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
The Valentinians met privately and later in churches, as students guided by
scholars. Many of their leaders were women, for whom gnostic Christianity
held out positions as leaders and teachers not available in the official church.
The Valentinians saw their mythic theologies as allegorical commentaries on
the Hebrew Bible and Christian scripture, but their opponents saw them as
extravagant heresies. In Valentinian gnosticism Christ and the word (logos)
are eternal beings (aeons), and Jesus is brought forth to bring salvation and
enlightenment here below. This recalls the logos made flesh in the Gospel of
John. But beyond some common interpretations of the life of Christ, their be­liefs
and documents clashed. One cannot read the Valentinian documents
without concluding that gnosticism was different, and not just allegorically,
from mainstream Christianity. The Valentinians offered a whole new scheme
of salvation through knowledge, and an unknowable father in the heavenly
realm of light, which is the pleroma or fullness. Traditional Christians were
right to suspect otherness in the Valentinians.
The Gospel of Truth begins with a Jewish-Christian enunciation of joy in
the good news of the gospel, which brings hope to those who would seek the fa­ther.
The following lines describe the generation of ignorance and error, which
derives ultimately from the father. Here ignorance, terror, and error reside in the
pleroma, which resides in the father. It is clear that this represents a crisis in the
pleroma, site of the thirty aeons of light, but the text suggests that the father is
neither responsible for this error nor diminished in his powers. In the contrast,
the paradox, between the error in the pleroma and the goodness of the father we
have perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this sermon of truth. Somehow,
from the very realm of the good father, error comes. Herein lies the mystery, for
gnostics, of the goodness of the divine and the reality of evil in the world.
This section ends with the appearance and death of Jesus the anointed,
whose fate at the hands of "error" is described in an amazing passage that in a
few words sets Jewish-Christian orthodoxy apart from gnosticism:
He was nailed to a tree. He became a fruit of the knowledge of
the father. He did not, however, destroy them because they ate
of it. He rather caused those who ate of it to be joyful because of
this discovery.
This passage reverses the fundamental biblical notion that knowledge is sin. It
dissolves the original stricture against obtaining knowledge by eating of its
fruit, for which disobedience came a punishment of shame, sensuality, and
death. Rather, here in the Gospel of Truth the fruit of knowledge is a discovery

250. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 241
bringing joy. It signifies that one finds god in oneself, that the fog of error and
terror is gone, and that the nightmare of darkness is exchanged for an eternal
heavenly day. Therein is stated the essence of gnosis: the word of knowledge
redeems rather than kills.
There follows an idealized, moving portrait of the son, of whom the
father is not jealous, and who utters no threat of gnashing teeth or hell and
brimstone to fellow Jews who do not accept that he is the messiah. In addition
to being a quiet guide of sheep gone astray, the implied Jesus also teaches a
portrait of the father's face. We soon realize that the father, not the son, is the
center of the sermon, and he is personified and endowed with utter sweetness.
The return of the awakened ones is then described in the superb poetry of
gnosticism:
Until the moment when they who are passing through all these
things... awaken, they see nothing because the dreams were noth­ing.
It is thus that they who cast ignorance from them like sleep
do not consider it to be anything, nor regard its properties to be
something real, but they renounce them like a dream in the night
and they consider the knowledge of the father to be the dawn. It
is thus that each has acted, as if asleep, during the time of igno­rance,
and thus a person comes to understand, as if awakening.
And happy is one who comes to himself and awakens. Indeed,
blessings on one who has opened the eyes of the blind.
God's face is sweet and his will is good. God gives his aroma to the light,
which the spirit smells. God's presence is deeply joyous and sensual: "He
brought the warm fullness of love, so that the cold may not return, but the unity
of the perfect thought may prevail." The agent of human return is the son. The
father exists in the saved and they exist in the father. Such is the place of the
blessed:" They are in that true and eternal life and speak of the perfect light filled
with the seed of the father, and which is in his heart and in the fullness."
The Gospel of Truth is an exhortation of truth, a sermon of hope. We hear
again and again the cheerful, intellectual message of knowledge that dissolves
darkness:
What, then, is that which he wants such a one to think? "I am
like the shadows and phantoms of the night." When morning
comes, this one knows that the fear that had been experienced
was nothing.

251. 242 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
THE GOSPEL OF TRUTH1
JOY TO THOSE WHO KNOW THE FATHER
The gospel of truth is joy for those who have received from the father of
truth the grace of knowing him by the power of the word,2 who has come
from the fullness3 and who is in the thought and the mind of the father. This
is the one who is called the savior, since that is the name of the work that he
must do for the redemption of those who have not known the father. For the
name of the gospel is the revelation of hope, since that is the discovery of those
who seek him, because the realm of all sought him from whom it came. You
see, all was inside of him, that illimitable, inconceivable one, who is better
than every thought.
IGNORANCE OF THE FATHER BRINGS ERROR
This ignorance of the father brought about terror and fear.4 And terror be­came
dense like a fog, so no one was able to see. Because of this, error5 became
strong. But she worked on her material substance6 vainly, because she did not
know the truth. She assumed a fashioned figure while she was preparing, in
power and in beauty, the substitute for truth.
This, then, was not a humiliation for the illimitable, inconceivable one.
For they were as nothing, this terror and this forgetfulness and this figure of
falsehood, whereas established truth is unchanging, unperturbed, and com­pletely
beautiful.
For this reason, do not take error too seriously.
Since error had no root, she was in a fog regarding the father. She was
preparing works and forgetfulnesses and fears in order, by these means, to
i. The Gospel of Truth: Nag Hammadi Codex I, pp. 16,31 to 43,24, along with passages from
Nag Hammadi Codex XII; translated by Robert M. Grant (Gnosticism, 146-61) and by Harold
W. Attridge and George W. Mac Rae (Robinson, ed., Nag Hammadi Library in English, rev. ed.,
40-51); revised by Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer.
2. See John 1:1.
3. Pleroma, here and elsewhere in the text.
4. It is ignorance rather than sin that is the source of human problems, such as terror and fear
5. Error is personified and is feminine in gender. The role of error maybe compared to that of
wisdom, Sophia, or even Yaldabaoth the demiurge.
6. The material world.

252. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 243
beguile those of the middle7 and to make them captive. The forgetfulness of
error was not revealed. It did not become light beside the father. Forgetful­ness
did not exist with the father, although it existed because of him.8 What
exists in him is knowledge, which was revealed so that forgetfulness might be
destroyed and that the father might be known. Since forgetfulness existed be­cause
the father was not known, if the father comes to be known, from that
moment on forgetfulness will cease to exist.
JESUS IS THE FRUIT OF KNOWLEDGE
That is the gospel of him whom they seek, which he has revealed to the perfect
through the mercies of the father as the hidden mystery, Jesus the anointed.9
Through him he enlightened those who were in darkness because of forget­fulness.
He enlightened them and gave them a path. And that path is the truth
that he taught them.10 For this reason error was angry with him, so she perse­cuted
him. She was distressed by him, and she was made powerless. He was
nailed to a tree.11 He became a fruit of the knowledge of the father. He did not,
however, destroy them because they ate of it. He rather caused those who ate
of it to be joyful because of this discovery.
And as for him, he found them in himself, and they found him in them­selves,
that illimitable, inconceivable one, that perfect father who made all,
in whom the realm of all is, and whom the realm of all lacks, since he retained
in himself their perfection, which he had not given to all.12 The father was not
jealous. What jealousy, indeed, is there between him and his members? For,
even if the eternal being had received their13 perfection, they would not have
been able to approach the perfection of the father, because he retained their
perfection in himself, giving it to them as a way to return to him and as a
knowledge unique in perfection. He is the one who set all in order and in
7. Possibly psychical people who, as ordinary Christians, linger in the world between the spiri­tual
and the physical.
8. Or "if it existed, then (it existed) because of him." Bentley Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 254,
translates this difficult passage as follows: "and surely then not because of him!"
9. Christ.
10. See John 14:6.
11. This reference to the tree recalls both the cross on which Christ was crucified and the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil (in Genesis 2:17 and gnostic texts).
12. Here and elsewhere in this and other gnostic texts, all (or, the all) can refer to the realm of
all the powers, the pleroma.
13. That is, the members'.

253. 244 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
whom all existed and whom all lacked. As one of whom some have no knowl­edge,
he wants them to know him and love him. What did they lack, if not the
knowledge of the father?14
JESUS AS QUIET GUIDE
Jesus became a guide, quiet and at leisure. In the middle of a school he came
and spoke the word, as a teacher. Those who were wise in their own estimation
came to put him to the test. But he discredited them as empty-headed people.
They hated him because they really were not wise. After all these came also the
little children, those who possess the knowledge of the father. When they be­came
strong they were taught the aspects of the father's face. They came to
know and they were known. They were glorified and they gave glory.
THE LIVING BOOK IN THE
HEART OF THE LITTLE CHILDREN
In their heart, the living book of the living was manifest, the book that was
written in the thought and in the mind of the father and, from before the
foundation of all, is in that incomprehensible part of him.15
This is the book that no one found possible to take, since it was reserved for
him who will take it and be slain. No one could appear among those who be­lieved
in salvation as long as that book had not appeared. For this reason, the
compassionate, faithful Jesus was patient in his sufferings until he took that
book, since he knew that his death meant life for many.16 Just as in the case of
a will that has not yet been opened, the fortune of the deceased master of
the house is hidden, so also in the case of all that had been hidden as long as
the father of all was invisible and unique in himself, in whom every space has
its source. For this reason Jesus appeared. He put on that book. He was nailed
to a cross. He affixed the edict of the father to the cross.
Oh, such great teaching! He abases himself even unto death, though he is
clothed in eternal life. Having divested himself of these perishable rags,17 he
14. This lack is the lack of absolute perfection and transcendence found only in the perfect fa­ther,
who makes it known by revealing it.
15. In the book of life the knowledge of the father is revealed.
16. See Hebrews 2:17; Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6.
17. The body.

254. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 245
clothed himself in incorruptibility, which no one could possibly take from
him. Having entered into the empty territory of fears, he passed before those
who were stripped by forgetfulness, being both knowledge and perfection,
proclaiming the things that are in the heart of the father, so that he became
the wisdom of those who have received instruction. But those who are to be
taught, the living who are inscribed in the book of the living, learn for them­selves,
receiving instructions from the father, turning to him again.18
Since the perfection of all is in the father, it is necessary for all to ascend to
him. Therefore, if one has knowledge, he gets what belongs to him and draws
it to himself. For one who is ignorant is deficient, and it is a great deficiency,
since he lacks that which will make him perfect. Since the perfection of all is in
the father, it is necessary for all to ascend to him and for each one to get the
things that are his. He wrote these things first, having prepared them to be
given to those who came from him.
THE FATHER CALLING THOSE
WHO HAVE KNOWLEDGE
Those whose names he knew first were called last, so that the one who has
knowledge is one whose name the father has pronounced.19 For one whose
name has not been spoken is ignorant. Indeed, how shall one hear if a name
has not been uttered? For whoever remains ignorant until the end is a creature
of forgetfulness and will perish with it. If this is not so, why have these
wretches no name, why have they no voice? Hence, whoever has knowledge is
from above. If called, that person hears, replies, and turns toward him who
called. That person ascends to him and knows how he is called. Having knowl­edge,
that person does the will of him who called. That person desires to please
him, finds rest,20 and receives a certain name. Those who thus are going to
have knowledge know whence they came and whither they are going. They
know it as someone who, having become intoxicated, has turned from his
drunkenness and, having come to himself, has restored what is his own.21
18. According to the Gospel of Truth, the death of Jesus reveals the truth of the father. It does
not save from sin.
19. The call of the father, the utterance of the name of a person, brings knowledge and salvation.
20. For gnostics rest is bliss, especially the final bliss of the union of self with the divine, as in Gospel
of Thomas 2 (Greek version), the Secret Book of John, and throughout the Gospel of Truth.
21. Returning to sobriety from drunkenness is a common gnostic image for returning to
knowledge from ignorance.

255. 246 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
He has turned many from error. He went before them to their own places,
from which they departed when they erred because of the depth22 of him
who surrounds every place, whereas there is nothing that surrounds him. It
was a great wonder that they were in the father without knowing him and
that they were able to leave on their own, since they were not able to contain
him and know him in whom they were, for indeed his will had not come
forth from him. For he revealed it as a knowledge with which all its emana­tions
agree, namely, the knowledge of the living book that he revealed to the
eternal beings at last as his letters, displaying to them that these are not
merely vowels or consonants, so that one may read them and think of some­thing
void of meaning. On the contrary, they are letters that convey the truth.
They are pronounced only when they are known. Each letter is a perfect truth
like a perfect book, for they are letters written by the hand of the unity, since
the father wrote them for the eternal beings, so that they by means of his let­ters
might come to know the father. 23
THE FATHER'S SON IS
JESUS OF UTMOST SWEETNESS
His wisdom contemplates the word,
his teaching expresses it,
his knowledge has revealed it,
his honor is a crown upon it,
his joy agrees with it,
his glory has exalted it,
his image has revealed it,
his rest has received it,
his love has embodied it,
his trust has embraced it.
Thus the word of the father goes forth into all, being the fruit of his heart
and expression of his will. It supports all. It chooses them and also takes the
character of all and purifies them, causing them to return to the father, to the
22. "Depth" refers to the divine depth, the first aeon, from which the pleroma emanates, in
Valentinian thought.
23. The living book of the father communicates eternal truth. Truth is also an aeon in the
Valentinian pleroma.

256. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 247
mother, Jesus of the utmost sweetness.24 The father opens his bosom, and his
bosom is the holy spirit. He reveals his hidden self, which is his son, so that
through the compassion of the father the eternal beings may know him, end
their wearying search for the father, and rest themselves in him, knowing
that this is rest. After he had filled what was incomplete, he did away with its
form. The form of that which was incomplete is the world, which it served.
For where there is envy and strife, there is an incompleteness;25 but where
there is unity, there is completeness. Since this incompleteness came about
because they did not know the father, from the moment when they know the
father, incompleteness will cease to exist. As one's ignorance disappears when
one gains knowledge, and as darkness disappears when light appears, so also
incompleteness is eliminated by completeness. Certainly, from that moment
on, form is no longer manifest but will be dissolved in fusion with unity. Now
their works lie scattered. In time unity will make the spaces complete. By
means of unity each one will understand himself. By means of knowledge one
will purify himself from multiplicity into unity, devouring matter within him­self
like fire and darkness by light, death by life.
BREAKING DEFECTIVE DISHES WHEN MOVING
Certainly, if these things have happened to each one of us, it is fitting for us,
surely, to think about all so that the house may be holy and silent for unity.
Like people who have moved from a house, if they have some dishes around
that are not good, they are broken. Nevertheless, the householder does not
suffer a loss but rejoices, for in the place of these defective dishes there are
those that are completely perfect. For this is the judgment that has come from
above and that has judged every person, a drawn two-edged sword cutting on
this side and that.26 When the word appeared, who is in the heart of those who
pronounce it—it was not merely a sound but has become a body—a great dis­turbance
occurred among the dishes, for some were emptied, others filled;
some were provided for, others were removed; some were purified, still others
were broken. All the spaces were shaken and disturbed for they had no com­posure
nor stability. Error was disturbed, not knowing what she should do.
24. See 1 Peter 2:2-3.
25. Or "lack," "deficiency." What is incomplete is often specified, in gnostic thought, as the an­tithesis
of fullness (the pleroma).
26. Descriptions of two-edged swords occur in Philo of Alexandria and the New Testament.

257. 248 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
She was troubled, she lamented, she was beside herself because she did not
know anything. When knowledge, which is the abolishment of error, ap­proached
her with all her emanations, error was empty, since there was
nothing in her. Truth appeared; all its emanations recognized it. They greeted
the father in truth with a power which is complete and which joins them
with the father.
TRUTH IS THE MOUTH OF THE FATHER
Each one loves truth because truth is the mouth of the father. His tongue is the
holy spirit. Whoever touches truth touches the mouth of the father by his
tongue at the time when one will receive the holy spirit.
This is the manifestation of the father and his revelation to his eternal be­ings.
He revealed what is hidden in him and explained it. For who is it who ex­ists
if it is not the father himself? All the spaces are his emanations. They knew
that they stem from him as children from a perfect man. They knew that they
had not yet received form, nor had they yet received a name, every one of
which the father produces. If they at that time receive the form of his knowl­edge,
though they are truly in him, they do not know him.27 But the father is
perfect. He knows every space that is within him. If he pleases,28 he reveals
anyone whom he desires by giving him a form and by giving him a name; and
he does give a name and cause to come into being. Those who do not yet exist
are ignorant of him who created them. I do not say, then, that those who do
not yet exist are nothing.29 But they are in him who will desire that they exist
when he pleases, like an event that is going to happen. On the one hand, he
knows, before anything is revealed, what he will produce. On the other hand,
the fruit that has not yet been revealed does not know anything nor is any­thing
either. Thus each space that, on its part, is in the father comes from the
existent one, who, on his part, has established it from the nonexistent. For
whoever has no root has no fruit, but although thinking, "I have come into
being," that one will perish. For this reason, whoever does not exist at all will
never exist.
27. Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 258, punctuates differently. Thus the text could read as follows:
"It is when they receive the form of his knowledge that the father produces them. Otherwise,
though they are within him, they do not know him."
28. Or "If he wills."
29. That is, they have potential if not actual existence. Here the author of the text, perhaps
Valentinos, is writing in the first person singular.

258. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 249
WAKING UP AND COMING TO KNOWLEDGE
What, then, is that which he30 wants such a one to think? "I am like the
shadows and phantoms of the night." When morning comes,31 this one knows
that the fear that had been experienced was nothing.
Thus they were ignorant of the father; he is the one whom they did not see.
Since there had been fear and confusion and a lack of confidence and double-mindedness
and division, there were many illusions that were conceived
by them,32 as well as empty ignorance—as if they were fast asleep and found
themselves a prey to troubled dreams.33
Either they are fleeing somewhere, or they lack strength to escape when
pursued. They are involved in inflicting blows, or they themselves receive
bruises. They are falling from high places, or they fly through the air with no
wings at all. Other times, it is as if certain people were trying to kill them, even
though there is no one pursuing them; or they themselves are killing those
beside them, and they are stained by their blood. Until the moment when
they who are passing through all these things—I mean they who have experi­enced
all these confusions—awaken, they see nothing because the dreams were
nothing. It is thus that they who cast ignorance from them like sleep do not
consider it to be anything, nor regard its properties to be something real, but
they renounce them like a dream in the night and they consider the knowledge
of the father to be the dawn.34 It is thus that each one has acted, as if asleep,
during the time of ignorance, and thus a person comes to understand, as if
awakening. And happy is the one who comes to himself and awakens. Indeed,
blessings on one who has opened the eyes of the blind.35
The spirit came to this person in haste when the person was awakened.
Having given its hand to the one lying prone on the ground, it placed him
firmly on his feet, for he had not yet stood up.36 This gave them the means of
knowing the knowledge of the father and the revelation of his son. For when
30. The father.
31. Or "When the light shines," that is, the light of enlightenment, revelation, and knowledge.
32. Or "done by them."
33. Descriptions of the troubled dreams and nightmares follow.
34. This is how one awakens to gnosis.
35. Matthew 11:5; Luke 7:21-22; John 9: 11:37. Here the imagery suggests coming to clarity of
vision regarding the father.
36. This description resembles gnostic stories (for example, in the Secret Book of John) of
Adam lying on the ground and being raised onto his feet by means of divine breath.

259. 2 50 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
they saw it and listened to it, he permitted them to take a taste of and to smell
and to grasp the beloved son.
THE SON REVEALS THE WORD OF THE FATHER
The son37 appeared, informing them of the father, the illimitable one. He in­spired
them with that which is in the mind, while doing his will. Many re­ceived
the light and turned toward him. But material people38 were alien to
him and did not discern his appearance nor recognize him. For he came in the
likeness of flesh and nothing blocked his way because what is incorruptible is
irresistible.39 Moreover, while saying new things, speaking about what is in the
heart of the father, he proclaimed the faultless word. Light spoke through his
mouth, and his voice brought forth life. He gave them thought and under­standing
and mercy and salvation, and the spirit of strength derived from the
infinity and sweetness of the father. He caused punishments and scourgings to
cease, for it was they that caused many in need of mercy to stray from him
in error and in chains—and he mightily destroyed them and derided them
with knowledge. He became a path for those who went astray and knowledge
for those who were ignorant, a discovery for those who sought, and a support
for those who tremble, a purity for those who were defiled.
THE SON IS THE SHEPHERD OF
THE ONE LOST SHEEP
He is the shepherd who left behind the ninety-nine sheep that had not strayed
and went in search of that one which was lost.40 He rejoiced when he had
found it. For ninety-nine is a number expressed with the left hand. The mo­ment
he finds the one, however, the whole number is transferred to the right
hand.41 Thus it is with him who lacks the one, that is, the entire right hand,
which attracts that in which it is deficient, seizes it from the left side, and
37. This is the beloved son, as mediator.
38. Possibly material or earthly people, who, according to Valentinian thought, derive from and
belong to the world of matter.
39. The portrayal of the beloved son in this paragraph resembles the portrayal of the logos in­carnate
in Jesus according to the Gospel of John, especially chapter 1.
40. Matthew 18:12-14; Luke 15:4-7; Gospel of Thomas 107.
41. In the Roman system of counting on the fingers, the numbers one to ninety-nine were
counted on the left hand, and the number one hundred entailed switching to the right. In
Valentinian thought those of the right are psychical, people of soul, and those of the left are
material, people of flesh.

260. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 251
transfers it to the right. In this way, then, the number becomes one hundred.
This is the symbol of the sound of the numbers. It is the father.42
He labored even on the Sabbath for the sheep that he found fallen into the
pit. He saved the life of that sheep, bringing it up from the pit that you may
understand fully what that Sabbath is, you who are the children of the under­standing
of the heart.43 It is a day in which it is not fitting that salvation be
idle, so that you may speak of that heavenly day that has no night and of the
sun that does not set because it is perfect. Say then in your heart that you are
this perfect day and that in you lives the light that does not fail.
PUTTING KNOWLEDGE INTO PRACTICE
Speak concerning the truth to those who seek it and of knowledge to those
who, in their error, have committed sins.44 Make sure-footed those who stum­ble,
and stretch forth your hands to the sick. Nourish the hungry, and set at
ease those who are troubled. Raise up and awaken those who sleep. You are
this understanding that seizes you.45 If the strong follow this course, they are
even stronger. Turn your attention to yourselves. Do not be concerned with
other things, namely, that which you have cast forth from yourselves, that
which you have dismissed. Do not return to them to eat them. Do not be
moth-eaten. Do not be worm-eaten, for you have already shaken it off. Do not
be a place of the devil, for you have already destroyed him. Do not strengthen
your last obstacles, because that is reprehensible. For the lawless one is noth­ing.
He harms himself more than the law. For that one does his works because
he is a lawless person. But this one, because he is a righteous person, does his
works among others. Do the will of the father, then, for you are from him.
THE SWEETNESS OF THE FATHER
For the father is sweet and his will is good. He knows the things that are yours,
so that you may rest yourselves in them. For by the fruits one knows the things
42. Bentley Layton takes the reference to the father with the next clause: "It is the father who la­bored
even on the Sabbath" (Gnostic Scriptures, 260).
43. Or "you who possess full understanding," but the metaphor has more levels and is poetic.
44- The words of exhortation in this paragraph recall similar words throughout early Christian
(and other) literature. The helpfulness that is called for may be understood in a literal or a
metaphorical way. For example, the hunger to be satisfied may be physical hunger or spiritual
hunger.
45- Or, more abstractly, "encourages."

261. 2 52 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
that are yours,46 that they are the children of the father, and one knows his
aroma, that you originate from the grace of his countenance. For this reason,
the father loves his aroma; and it manifests itself in every place; and when it is
mixed with matter, he gives his aroma to the light; and into his rest he causes
it to ascend in every form and in every sound. For it is not ears that smell the
aroma, but it is the spirit that possesses the sense of smell and draws it for it­self
to itself and sinks into the aroma of the father. Thus the spirit cares for it
and takes it to the place from which it has come, the first aroma, which has
grown cold. It is in a psychical form, resembling cold water47 that has sunk
into soil that is not hard, of which those who see it think, "It is earth." After­ward,
it evaporates if a breath of wind draws it, and it becomes warm. The cold
aromas, then, are from division. For this reason, faith came and destroyed di­vision
and brought the warm fullness of love, so that the cold may not return,
but the unity of perfect thought may prevail.48
THE FATHER RESTORES
DEFICIENCY WITH FULLNESS
This is the word of the gospel about finding the fullness for those who wait for
the salvation that comes from above. When their hope, for which they are wait­ing,
is waiting—they whose likeness is the light in which there is no shadow—
then at that time the fullness is about to come. The deficiency of matter, however,
is not because of the infinity of the father, who came to give time to deficiency. In
fact, it is not right to say that the incorruptible one will come in this manner. The
depth of the father is profound, and the thought of error is not with him. It is a
matter of falling down and a matter of being readily set upright at the discovery
of the one who has come to what he would bring back.49
This bringing back is called repentance. For this reason, incorruption has
breathed. It followed one who has sinned, in order that he may find rest. For­giveness
is that which remains for the light in the deficiency, the word of the
fullness. For the doctor hurries to the place where there is sickness, because
46. Matthew 7:16; 12:33; Luke 6:44.
47. The author is employing a pun (in Greek) by comparing psyche (soul, psychical form) and
psychos (cold).
48. The sweetness of the father, having grown cold, is restored to the warmth of love.
49. The translation is difficult here, but it seems to mean that repentance is the discovery of
what may be brought back to heal a person, namely, knowledge.

262. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 253
that is the doctor's wish. The sick person is in a deficient condition but does not
hide, because the doctor possesses what the patient lacks. In this manner the
deficiency is filled by the fullness, which has no deficiency, and which was given
in order to fill the one deficient, so that the person may receive grace. For while
deficient, this person had no grace. Because of this a diminishing occurred
where there is no grace. When the diminished part was restored, the person in
need revealed himself as fullness. This is what it means to find the light of truth
that has shone toward the person: it is unchangeable.
ANOINTING THE CHOSEN
WITH THE FATHER'S MERCY
For this reason they who have been troubled speak about Christ50 in their
midst so that they may receive restoration and he may anoint them with the
ointment. The ointment is the pity of the father, who will have mercy on them.
But those whom he has anointed are those who are perfect. For filled vessels
are usually coated with sealing wax.51 But when the coating is ruined, the ves­sel
may leak, and the cause of its defect is the lack of coating. For then a breath
of wind and the power that it has can make it evaporate. But from the jar that
is without defect no seal is removed, nor does it leak. But what it lacks is filled
again by the perfect father.
The father is good. He knows his plantings because he is the one who has
planted them in his paradise. And his paradise is his place of rest.
THE FATHER IS BEGINNING AND END
Paradise is the perfection in the thought of the father, and the plants are the
words of his reflection. Each one of his words is the work of his will alone, in
the revelation of his word. Since they were in the depth of his mind, the
word,52 who was the first to come forth, caused them to appear, along with an
intellect that speaks the unique word by means of a silent grace. It was called
thought, since they were in it before becoming manifest.53 It happened, then,
50. The anointed.
51. The suggestion of this translation comes from Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 262.
52. Logos.
53. This meditation rehearses details of the emergence of the pleroma from the divine depth in
Valentinian thought. Depth and thought are the first two Valentinian aeons; thought is also
called grace and silence.

263. 254 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
that the word was the first to come forth at the moment pleasing to the will of
him who desired it; and it is in the will that the father is at rest and with which
he is pleased. Nothing happens without him, nor does anything occur without
the will of the father. But his will is incomprehensible. His will is his footstep,54
but no one can know it, nor is it possible for them to concentrate on it in order
to possess it. But that which he wishes takes place at the moment he wishes
it—even if the view does not please people before god: it is the father's will.
For the father knows the beginning of them all as well as their end. For when
their end arrives, he will greet them. The end, you see, is the recognition of
him who is hidden, that is, the father, from whom the beginning came forth
and to whom will return all who have come from him. For they were made
manifest for the glory and the joy of his name.
THE SON IS THE NAME AND
REVELATION OF THE FATHER
The name of the father is the son. It is he who, in the beginning, gave a name
to him who came from him, while he remained the same, and he conceived
him as a son. He gave him his name, which belonged to him—he, the father, who
possesses everything that exists around him. He possesses the name; he has the
son. It is possible for the son to be seen. The name, however, is invisible, for it
alone is the mystery of the invisible about to come to ears completely filled
with it through the father's agency. Moreover, as for the father, his name is not
pronounced but is revealed through a son. Thus, then, the name is great.55
Who, then, has been able to pronounce a name for him, this great name,
except him alone to whom the name belongs and the children of the name, in
whom the name of the father is at rest, and who themselves in turn are at rest
in his name, since the father has no beginning?56 It is he alone who conceived
it for himself as a name, in the beginning before he had created the eternal be­ings,
that the name of the father should be supreme over them—that is, the
true name, which is secure by his authority and by his perfect power. For the
name is not drawn from lexicons, nor is his name derived from common
name-giving. It is invisible. The father alone gave the son a name, because
he alone saw him and because he alone was capable of giving him a name. For
54. "Footstep" here carries the sense of identifying him, marking him.
55. The name of the father is invisible, ineffable.
56. In the sense that the father has always been.

264. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 255
he who does not exist has no name. For what name would one give him who
did not exist? Nevertheless, he who exists exists also with his name, and he
alone knows it, and to him alone the father gave a name. He is the father, his
name is the son. He did not, therefore, keep it secretly hidden, but it came into
existence, and the son himself disclosed the name. The name, then, is that of
the father, just as the name of the father is the beloved son. For otherwise,
where would he find a name except from the father? But someone will proba­bly
say to a friend, "Who would give a name to someone who existed before
himself, as if, indeed, children did not receive their name from one of those
who gave them birth?"
Above all, then, it is fitting for us to think this point over: what is the name?
This is the true name, the name that came from the father, for it is he who owns
the name. He did not, you see, get the name on loan, as in the case of others,
who receive names that are made up. This is the proper name. There is no one
else to whom he has given it. It remained unnamed, unuttered, till the moment
when he who is perfect pronounced it himself; and it was he alone who was
able to pronounce his name and to see it. When it pleased the father, then, that
his son should be his pronounced name, and when he who has come from the
depth disclosed this name, he divulged what was hidden, because he knew that
the father was absolute goodness. For this reason, indeed, the father brought
this particular one forth, that he might speak concerning the realm and his
place of rest from which he had come forth, and that he might glorify the full­ness,
the greatness of his name and the sweetness of the father.
THE PLACE OF THE BLESSED
Each one will speak concerning the place from which they have come forth,
and to the region from which they received their essential being they will has­ten
to return once again and receive from that place, the place where they
stood before, and they will taste of that place, be nourished, and grow. And
their own place of rest is their fullness.57 All the emanations from the father,
therefore, are fullnesses, and all his emanations have their roots in the one
who caused them all to grow from himself. He assigned their destinies. They,
then, became manifest individually that they might be perfected in their own
thought, for that place to which they extend their thought is their root, which
57. Or, "And his own place of rest is his fullness," with reference to the father.

265. 256 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
lifts them upward through all heights to the father. They reach his head, which
is rest for them, and they remain there near to it as though to say that they have
touched his face by means of embraces. But they do not make this plain. For
neither have they exalted themselves nor have they diminished the glory of the
father, nor have they thought of him as small, nor bitter, nor angry, but as ab­solutely
good, unperturbed, sweet, knowing all the spaces before they came
into existence and having no need of instruction.
Such are they who possess from above something of this immeasurable
greatness, as they strain toward that unique and perfect One who exists there
for them.58 And they do not go down to Hades.59 They have neither envy nor
moaning, nor is death in them. But they rest in him who rests, without weary­ing
themselves or becoming confused about truth. But they, indeed, are the
truth, and the father is in them, and they are in the father, since they are per­fect,
inseparable from him who is truly good. They lack nothing in any way,
but they are given rest and are refreshed by the spirit. And they listen to their
root; they are busy with concerns in which one will find his root, and one will
suffer no loss to his soul.60
Such is the place of the blessed; this is their place. As for the others, then,
may they know, in their place, that it does not suit me, after having been in the
place of rest, to say anything more.61 It is there I shall dwell in order to devote
myself, at all times, to the father of all and the true friends,62 those upon
whom the love of the father is lavished, and in whose midst nothing of him is
lacking. It is they who manifest themselves truly, since they are in that true and
eternal life and speak of the perfect light filled with the seed of the father,
which is in his heart and in the fullness, while his spirit rejoices in it and glo­rifies
him in whom it was, because the father is good. And his children are per­fect
and worthy of his name, because he is the father. Children of this kind are
those whom he loves.63
58. Or "who is a mother to them."
59. They do not die.
60. The root of salvation is also discussed in other gnostic texts, including the hymn of the sav­ior
at the conclusion of the Secret Book of John.
61. The author has already realized something of the bliss of the place of rest.
62. Literally, "true brothers."
63. These are the Valentinians. The references to the blessed of the father, the true friends (or
brothers), the seed of the father, designate in a particular way the spiritual people.

266. 15
The Gospel
of Philip
f"1 i f
1 he Gospel of Philip is not a traditional gospel with good news on
I the life and death of Jesus; rather, it is an anthology of Christian
JL. gnostic aphorisms, parables, narrative dialogues, and sayings of
Jesus, which have the quality of gnomic poetry:
Winter is the world, summer the other realm.
It is wrong to pray in winter.
The pieces, strung together as a sacramental catechesis, are short, and they
may be taken from larger texts that have not survived. Separations in the
texts vary according to scholarly edition, but they are, by content, largely self-evident.
The book is pseudepigraphically attributed to the messenger Philip,
who is mentioned by name only once, and this is certainly not a work in
any way connected with Philip. Here, as in other apocryphal works, it is
Philip who informs us that Joseph was the carpenter who made the cross on
which his son Jesus was hung.
Unlike many gnostic texts, this eclectic book contains patches of gnostic
tale, but it does not tell or invent any extensive myth. Although it contains no
single long poem or narration, the work has, despite its eccentric order, a cu­mulative
strength of insight, wit, and aphoristic incision. It is strongest when

267. 258 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
it brings image, message, and metaphysical tinkering together in short, ac­complished
pieces as in this baptismal catechism:
God is a dyer.
Good dyes, true dyes, dissolve into things
dyed in them.
So too for things god has dyed.
His dyes are imperishable because of their colors.
What god dips he dips in water.
Only at the end are some themes developed at length.
The Gospel of Philip contains a gnostic exegesis of some New Testament
passages; deals with Valentinian notions of life, death, and resurrection, and
flesh and spirit; and centers on one side of Christian tradition, the sacraments.
The sacraments include baptism, chrism (a form of anointing with olive oil),
the eucharist, redemption, and the bridal chamber. Originally Adam and Eve
were joined as an androgynous figure, the text points out. Problems of sexual­ity
and other sicknesses came about when this union was broken. With
Christ's aid, the reunion takes place in the bridal chamber. This reunion is a
precursor to the later union when the spirit returns to the heavenly realm. The
notion of a chaste union in the bed, when one is clothed in protective light of
the spirit, goes through many poems:
The rulers do not see you
who wear the perfect light,
and they cannot seize you.
You put on the light
in the mystery of union.
Other themes concern free men and virgins, slaves, defiled women, animals in
human form, conversion, and agriculture. As in the canonical gospels, the
parable themes embrace sowing, reaping, and the seasons. Nonetheless, gno­sis
is always apparent, as are other favored gnostic ideas of light and darkness,
names of earthly and heavenly things, the word, the mischief of the rulers (ar-chons),
and reversal of traditional ideas about resurrection and even "my fa­ther"
in the Lord's Prayer. With a heterodoxy of view typical of gnostic
reinterpretations of Christianity, the text frequently surprises, as in lines such
as "god is a man-eater" or "Jesus came to crucify the world."

268. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 259
Probably written in the third century, in Greek and possibly in Syria, the
Gospel of Philip exists in Coptic translation in the Nag Hammadi library.
THE GOSPEL OF PHILIP1
CONVERTS
A Jew2 makes a Jew whom we call a convert.3
A convert makes no convert.
Some are and make others like them,
while others simply are.
SLAVES
A slave longs for freedom
and doesn't hope to own a master's estate.
A child claims the father's legacy,
but those who inherit the dead are dead.
Heirs to the living are alive
and are heirs to life and death.
The dead are heirs to nothing.
How can the dead inherit?
Yet if the dead inherits the living,
the living won't die and the dead will survive.
GENTILES, JEWS, CHRISTIANS
A gentile doesn't die, never
having been alive to die.
i. The Gospel of Philip: Nag Hammadi Codex 11,3, PP- 5i>29 to 86,19; translated by Wesley W.
Isenberg, "Gospel of Philip" (Robinson, ed., NagHammadi Library in English, rev. ed., 141-60);
revised in verse by Willis Barnstone.
2. Or "Hebrew," here and below.
3. Or "proselyte."

269. 260 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
You who find truth are alive;
another may die, being alive.
Since Christ came the world was made,
cities adorned, and the dead buried.
When we were Jews we were orphans
with only a mother.
When we turned Christian we had a father
and a mother.4
SOWING IN SEASON
Those who sow in winter reap in summer.
Let us sow in the world to reap in summer.
Winter is the world, summer the other realm.5
It is wrong to pray in winter.6
From winter comes summer.
If you reap in winter you will not reap.
You will pull up young plants.
At the wrong season no crop is yours.
Even on the days of the Sabbath
the field is barren.
CHRIST AND THE SOUL
Christ came to buy. He rescued and redeemed,
redeeming aliens. He made strangers his own.7
He brought his own and made promises,
construing a strategy, and gave his life
when he appeared and when the world began.
4. For parallels to this passage see Gospel of Thomas 101,105.
5. Aeon.
6. For parallels to this passage see Gospel of Thomas 6,14.
7. Aliens and strangers are commonly discussed in gnostic texts, and a Sethian gnostic text is
entitled the Foreigner (Allogenes).

270. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 26l
Then he came and took back what he promised,
which fell into the hands of thieves. They captured it,
but he rescued it back. Then he redeemed
both the good and evil people in the world.
LIGHT AND DARKNESS
Light and darkness, life and death, on the right and left,
these are children, they are inseparably together.
But the good are not good, the wicked not wicked,
life not life, death not death.
Each element fades to an original source.
But those who live above the world cannot fade.
They are eternal.
NAMES
The names of earthly things are illusory.
We stray from the real to the unreal.
If you hear the word "god," you miss the real
and hear the unreal.8
Father, son, holy spirit, life, light, resurrection, church.
These words are not real. They are unreal
but refer to the real, and are heard in the world.
They fool us. If those names were in the eternal realm,
they would never be heard on earth.
They were not assigned to us here.
Their end dwells in the eternal realm.
THE NAME NOT UTTERED
Only one name is not uttered in the world:
the name the father gave the son.9
8. The word god as unreal recalls the discussion of reality and the transcendent One in the Se­cret
Book of John and the Vision of the Foreigner.
9-The son as the name of the father is also discussed in the Gospel of Truth.

271. 2 6 2 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Above the name of all others is the father's name.
The son would not be father without wearing
the father's name.
Those with his name know it but do not speak it.
Those without his name do not think it.
TRUTH MADE NAMES
Truth made names in the world,
and without them we can't think.
Truth is one and is many,
teaching one thing through the many.
RULERS
The rulers10 wanted to fool us,
since they saw we were connected with the good.
They took the names of the good
and gave them to the not good
so with names they could trick
and rope us to the not good.
As though doing us a favor,
they took names from the not good
and placed them on the good.
They knew what they were doing.
They wanted to grab those of us who were free
and make us eternal slaves.
FORCES
There are forces that don't want us to be saved.
They act for their own sake
If we are saved there will be no sacrifices,
no animals offered to the forces.
Yes, they made sacrifices to the animals.
10. Archons.

272. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 263
They were alive when they offered them,
and then they died.
They offered us dead to god,
and we lived.
ONCE THERE WAS NO BREAD
Before Christ came there was no bread in the world,
just as paradise, with its Adam, had many trees
for nourishing animals but no wheat for humans.
Once we nourished ourselves like animals,
but when the perfect Christ came,
he carried bread down from heaven
so we could eat like humans.11
RULERS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
The rulers thought they had done everything
alone, but in secret
the holy spirit on her own accomplished it all.
SOWING TRUTH
Truth from the beginning is sown everywhere.
Many see it sown. Few see it reaped.
MARY AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
Some say the holy spirit inseminated Mary.
They are wrong and don't know what they are saying.
When did a woman ever get a woman pregnant?12
Mary is a virgin and no powers dirtied her.
11. On Christ bringing bread from heaven in the Gospel of Philip, see manna and Christ as
bread from heaven in John 6.
12. The spirit is considered feminine in Semitic sources, and in texts such as Gospel of Thomas
101, the Secret Book of James, and especially the Gospel of the Hebrews, in which Jesus refers to
his mother the holy spirit.

273. 264 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
She is a great repugnance to the Jews
who are apostolic, who are the messengers.
No powers dirtied the virgin.
They dirtied themselves.
THE LORD'S FATHER
The lord would never say, "My father who is in heaven"
unless he had another father elsewhere.
He would have simply said, "My father."
POSSESSIONS
The lord said to the students,
"From every house you are in, take out possessions,
but take things into the father's house
and do not steal what is inside and run off."
JESUS IS A HIDDEN NAME
Jesus is a hidden name, Christ is an open one.
So Jesus is not a word in any tongue but a name
they call him.
In Syriac the Christ is messias, in Greek he is christos.
All languages have their own way of calling him.
Nazarene is the revealed name for what is secret.
WHAT IS CHRIST?
In himself Christ has everything, be it human
or angel or mystery and the father.
THE LORD ASCENDING
Some say the lord died first and then ascended.
They are wrong. He rose first and then he died.
13. Matthew 6:9.

274. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 265
Unless you are first resurrected, you will not die.
As god lives, you would already be dead.14
PENNY AND SOUL
No one would hide a beautiful and valuable object
under a lovely cover, but often vast monies are held
in a bag worth only a penny.
Consider the soul. It is a precious spirit and it came
in a contemptible body.15
SOME ARE AFRAID
Some are afraid that they will ascend from death naked,
and they want to climb back to life in their flesh.16
They are unaware that those who wear their flesh are naked,
and those who strip are not naked.
"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of god."17
What will we not inherit? The flesh we wear on us.
But what then will we inherit as our own ?
The body of Jesus and his blood. And Jesus said,
"Whoever will not eat my flesh and drink my blood
has no life within him."18 What does he mean?
His flesh is the word and blood the holy spirit.
Who has received these has food and drink and clothing.
I condemn those who say the flesh won't rise.
Then both are wrong. You say the flesh won't ascend.
Tell me, what will rise so I can honor you?
You say spirit in the flesh and light in the flesh.
What is the flesh?
You say there is nothing outside the flesh.
Then rise in the flesh, since everything exists in it.
14. Resurrection is fully discussed in the Valentinian Treatise on Resurrection.
15. A similar contrast between soul or spirit and body occurs in Gospel of Thomas 29.
16. The question of whether the dead are naked or clothed is also discussed in 2 Corinthians
5:1-10.
17.1 Corinthians 15:50.
18. John 6:53.

275. 266 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
In this world those wearing garments are better than garments.
In heaven the garments are better than the wearers.
THROUGH WATER AND FIRE
Through water and fire this wide realm is purified,
and the visible cleaned by the visible,
and the hidden by the hidden,
but there are elements concealed in the visible.
There is water within water
and fire in the oil of chrism.
JESUS TRICKED EVERYONE
Jesus tricked everyone. He did not appear as he was
but in a way not to be seen.
Yet he appeared to all of them.
To the great he appeared as great,
to the small as small. To angels he appeared as an angel,
and to humans as a human.
And he hid his word from everyone.
Some looked at him and thought they saw themselves.
When before his students he appeared gloriously
on the mountain, he was not small.
No, he became great, and he made his students grow
so they would know his immensity.19
UNION WITH ANGELS
On the day of thanksgiving prayer he said,20
"You who have joined perfect light with holy spirit,
join the angels with us as a single image."
19. On the glory of Jesus on the mountain, see accounts of the transfiguration appearance and
glorious resurrection appearances in the gospels and other early Christian literature.
20. Perhaps Jesus is speaking here, or perhaps Philip.

276. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 267
THE LAMB
Don't hate the lamb.
Without the lamb you can't see the king.21
MEETING THE KING
You don't meet the king
if you are naked.
CONCEIVING WITH A KISS
The heavenly man has more children
than a man on earth. If the offspring of Adam
are many and die,
how many more are the offspring of perfect beings
who do not die and are born each second?
The father makes a child.
The child cannot make a son. He has not the power
to make children. One recently born is not a parent.
The son has brothers and sisters, not children.
In this world there is a natural order to birth,
and one is nourished by ordinary means.
We are nourished by the promise of heaven,
from the mouth of the word.
If the word emanated from the mouth, it is perfect.
By a kiss the perfect conceive and give birth.
That is why we kiss.
From the grace in others we conceive.
THREE MARYS
Three Marys walked with the lord:
His mother, his sister, and Mary of Magdala,
his companion.22
2i. Or "door," "gate," as in sheepfold door or heaven.
22. On the love between Jesus and Mary of Magdala, see "Wisdom, Mother of the Angels" later
in the Gospel of Philip, as well as the Gospel of Mary.

277. 268 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
His sister and mother and companion
were Mary.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Father and son are single names.
Holy spirit is a double name and everywhere:
above and below, hidden and revealed.
The holy spirit lives in the revealed.
It is concealed below. It is above.
BLINDERS
Even evil powers serve the saints.
The holy spirit blinds the powers
who suppose they are treating a simple man
when they are treating saints.
ASK YOUR MOTHER
A student once asked the lord for something
from the world, and he said, "Ask your mother,
and she will give you something
from another realm."
SOPHIA AND SALT
The messengers said to the students,
"Let our offering all be for obtaining salt."
Salt is what they called Sophia.
Without salt no offering is acceptable.23
But Sophia is barren. She has no child,
and so she is called a trace of salt.
Yet wherever others are will be the holy spirit.24
Her children are many.
23. On salt and offering, see Leviticus 2:13; Mark 9:49 (variant reading: "every sacrifice will be
salted with salt"); Colossians 4:6.
24. Partially restored.

278. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 269
FATHERAND CHILD
What a father has belongs to his child,
but not while the child is still little.
When the child is grown, however,
then the father turns over all he possesses.
THE LOST
Those who have gone astray are those born
of the spirit. And they are usually lost
because of the spirit. So from one single breath
of spirit the fire blazes and is blackened.
WISDOM AND THE WISDOM OF DEATH
Echamoth is one thing and Echmoth another.
Echamoth is simply wisdom,25
but Echmoth is the wisdom of death,
who is the one who knows death,
who is called little wisdom.26
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND BEASTS
Domestic animals may be the bull and the donkey
and other species.
Others are wild and live in the deserts.
A man plows the field with a domestic animal,
and from the fruit of his labor
he feeds himself and the animals, tame or wild.
Compare the perfect human.
Through submissive powers he plows
and prepares for everything to come into being.
So his world holds together, good or evil, the right and the left.
The holy spirit shepherds everyone and rules all the powers,
25. Echamoth is Achamoth, lower wisdom in Valentinian thought.
26. Echmoth means "like death" in Hebrew and Aramaic.

279. 270 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
those tame and wild and running loose.
He gathers them and shuts them in
so, like it or not, they cannot escape.
CAIN
The one who has been created27 is beautiful,
and you would expect his sons to be noble creations.28
If one was not created but engendered,
you would find his seed was noble,
but now he was created and he engendered.
Is this nobility? Adultery came into being,
then murder. One29 was engendered in adultery,
since he was the child of the serpent.30
So like his father he too became a murderer and killed his brother.
Every sexual act between unlike persons is adultery.
GOD IS A DYER
God is a dyer.31
The good dyes, true dyes, dissolve into things
dyed in them.
So too for things god has dyed.
His dyes are imperishable because of their colors.
What god dips he dips in water.
SEEING
It is impossible to see anything in the real realm
unless you become it.
Not so in the world. You see the sun without being the sun,
27. Adam, or else a more general statement about anyone.
28. Bentley Layton suggests that the negative has been omitted here, and that the sentence
should read "his sons are not noble creations" (Gnostic Scriptures, 336).
29. Cain.
30. On the description of the origin of Cain, see the accounts of the seduction of Eve by Yald-abaoth
in the Secret Book of John and the rape of Eve in the Reality of the Rulers.
31. The Gospel of Philip has more on dyeing below; see "The Lord in the Dye Works of Levi."

280. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM T]
see sky and earth but are not them.
This is the truth of the world.
In the other truth you are what you see.
If you see spirit, you are spirit.
If you look at the anointed, you are the anointed.
If you see the father, you will be father.
In this world you see everything but yourself,
but there, you look at yourself and are what you see.
FAITH AND LOVE
Faith receives, love gives.
No one receives without faith.
No one gives without love.
To receive, believe; to love, give.
If you give without love,
no one derives a thing from what is given.
Whoever has not accepted the lord
is still a Jew.32
NAMES OF JESUS
The messengers33 who were before us had these names
for him: Jesus, the Nazorean, messiah,
that is, Jesus, the Nazorean, the Christ.
The last name is Christ,
the first is Jesus,
the middle name is the Nazarene.
Messiah has two meanings, both "Christ" and "measured."
Jesus in Hebrew is "redemption."
Nazara is "truth."
Christ has been measured.
The Nazarene and Jesus are they who have been measured.
32. Compare this section's treatment of faith and love to 1 Corinthians 13 and the Secret Book
of James.
33. Apostles.

281. 272 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
PEARL IN THE MUD
If a pearl is thrown into mud, it loses no value,
and if rubbed with balsam oil, it gains no value.
It always is precious in its owner's eyes.34
Wherever they are, the children of god
are precious in the eyes of the father.
JEW, ROMAN, GREEK, CHRISTIAN
If you say, "I am a Jew," no one will be moved.
If you say, "I am a Roman," no one will be upset.
If you say, "I am Greek, a barbarian, a slave, a freeman,"
no one will be troubled.
But if you say, "I am a Christian," they will tremble.
I wish I had that title. The world
will not endure it when hearing the name.35
GOD IS A MAN-EATER
God is a man-eater. So people are sacrificed to him.
Before humans were sacrificed, it was animals,
because those they were eaten by were not gods.
GLASS AND EARTH
Glass decanters and earthenware jugs are both made with fire.
When a glass decanter breaks, it is redone,
since it was made through a breath.
When earthenware jugs break, they are destroyed,
since they were born without a breath.
DONKEY AND MILLSTONE
A donkey turning a millstone walked a hundred miles.
When it was set loose, it found itself in the same place.
34. See Gospel of Thomas 93 (and New Testament parallels).
35. Partially restored.

282. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 273
Some people travel long but go nowhere.
At twilight they have seen no cities or villages,
no human constructions or phenomena of nature,
no powers or angels.
These miserable ones have labored in vain.
THE EUCHARIST IS JESUS
The eucharist is Jesus. In Syriac it is called pharisatha,
which is "one who is spread out,"
since Jesus came to crucify the world.36
THE LORD IN THE DYE WORKS OF LEVI
The lord went into the dye works of Levi
and took seventy-two different colors and threw them
into a vat. He drew them out perfectly white.
He said, "In this way the earthly son has come as a dyer."37
W I S D O M , M O T H E R OF THE ANGELS
Wisdom, who is called "barren," is mother of the angels.
The companion is Mary of Magdala. Jesus loved her
more than his students. He kissed her often
on her face, more than all his students,
and they said, "Why do you love her more than us?"38
The savior answered, saying to them,
"Why do I not love you like her? If a blind man
and one who sees are together in darkness,
they are the same.
When light comes, the one who sees will see light.
The blind man stays in darkness."
36. The meaning of the Syriac word is actually "broken bread."
37- Stories of Jesus in a dyehouse are also told in the Arabic Infancy Gospel, a version of the In­fancy
Gospel of Thomas, and an Islamic text. Seventy-two (or seventy) is a traditional number
of nations in the world.
38. On Jesus and Mary of Magdala, see "Three Marys," earlier in the Gospel of Philip, and the
Gospel of Mary.

283. 274 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
BEING
The lord said, "Blessings on you
who were before you came into being.
Whoever is, was, and will be."39
HUMANS AND ANIMALS
The superiority of humans is not obvious to the eye
but lies in what is hidden.
Consequently they have mastery over animals
who are stronger and larger in ways apparent
and hidden. So the animals survive.
When humans withdraw, the animals slay and devour
each other, because they do not find food.
Now they have food because humans plow the soil.
WATER AND MYSTERY
If you go down into the water and come up,
receiving nothing, and say, "I am a Christian,"
you have borrowed the name at interest.
But if you receive the holy spirit,
you have the name as a gift. And a gift
you do not pay back.
But if you have borrowed at interest,
you must pay. So it works
when you have passed through mystery.
MARRIAGE
Great is the mystery of marriage! Without it,
the world would not be.
The existence of the world depends
on marriage.
39. See Gospel of Thomas 19.

284. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 275
Think of sex. It possesses deep powers,
though its image is filthy.
BRIDAL CHAMBER AND ANDROGYNY
Among the forms of unclean spirits are male
and female ones. Males have sex with souls
who inhabit a female shape,
and females mingle promiscuously with souls
in a male form. No one escapes those spirits:
they seize you, unless you take on the power
of male or female, of groom and bride.
This power resides in the mirrored bridal chamber.
When wanton women see a man sitting alone,
the man is overcome. They fondle him
and pollute him. When wanton men see
a beautiful woman sitting alone, they overcome her,
and she is violated and polluted.
But when spirits see a man and his wife sitting together,
the female spirits cannot enter the male, nor the male
the woman. When the image and angel are joined,
none can force themselves on the man and woman.
LEAVING THE WORLD
When you leave the world, nothing can stop you
because you were in the world. You are above desire
and fear. You are master of envy. If someone does not
leave the world, the forces grab and choke him.
How can one escape those great grasping rulers?
How can one hide from them? Some say,
"We were faithful," to escape the filthy spirits and demons.
But if they had the holy spirit, nothing filthy
would cleave to them. Have no fear of the flesh.
Don't love it. If you are fearful, it will gain mastery
over you. If you love the flesh,
it will swallow and paralyze you.

285. 276 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
IN THIS WORLD OR THE RESURRECTION
Either someone will be in this world
or in the resurrection or in the middle place.
God forbid that I be found in the middle!
In this world there is good and evil.
Its good is not good, and evil not evil.
But there is evil after this world
that is truly evil—which is called the middle.40
The middle is death.
While we are in this world it is best to acquire resurrection
for ourselves41
so when we strip off the flesh we may rest
and not walk in the middle.
Many go astray on the way.
WILL AND SIN
It is good to leave the world before one has sinned.
Some have neither the will nor the ability to act.
Others, even if they have the will, are better off
if they do not act, for the act of the will makes them sinners.
But even if they have no will to act,
justice may be concealed from them,
whether they have the will or not.
Will, not action, is always primary.
HELL
A messenger in a vision saw people
locked up in a house of fire and bound with fiery chains,
lying in a flaming ointment.
He asked them, "Why can't they be saved?"
"We did not desire it," they told the messenger,
40. The middle realm as the world between the spiritual realm above and the physical world
below is also treated in other gnostic texts, including the Gospel of Truth.
41. Resurrection is discussed in the Treatise on Resurrection.

286. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 277
"but we got this place of punishment.
It is the outer darkness, and we are in it."42
KINDS OF FIRE
Soul and spirit came into being from water and fire.
From water and fire and light came the attendant
in the bridal chamber.
Fire is chrism. Light is fire. I am not referring to flame,
which has no form, but to another kind of fire,
whose appearance is white,
which is luminous and beautiful
and gives beauty.
TRUTH AND NAKEDNESS
Truth didn't come into the world naked
but in types and images. Truth is received only
that way. There is rebirth and its image.
They must be reborn through image.
What is the resurrection?
Image must rise again through image.
The bridegroom and image enter through image
into truth, which is restoration. It is right
that those who don't have it take on the name
of the father and son and the holy spirit.
But they have not done so on their own.
If you do not take on the names for yourself,
the name "Christian" will be taken from you.
You receive them in the oil of the chrism,
the aromatic unction of the power of the cross.
The messengers called this power "the right and left."
You are no longer a Christian but Christ.43
42. Partially restored; this description of hell is similar to the vision of hell in the Book of
Thomas.
43- See Gospel of Thomas 108, on becoming Christ.

287. 278 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
FIVE SACRAMENTS
The lord did everything through mystery:
baptism and a chrism and a eucharist
and a redemption and a bridal chamber.
THINGS BELOW LIKE THINGS ABOVE
The lord said, "I came to make things below
like things above, and the outside like the inside.
I came to join them in one place."44
He revealed who he is through types and images.
Those who say, "There is a heavenly person
and one even higher," are wrong.45
Who is seen in heaven is the heavenly person,
who is called "the one below,"
and the one to whom the hidden belongs
is called "higher."
It is best to say "inner" and "outer" and "what is beyond the outer."
So the lord called destruction "the outer darkness."46
There is nothing beyond.
He said, "My father who is in secret."
He said, "Go into the chamber and shut the door behind you,
and pray to your father who is in secret,"47
the one who is innermost.
But what is within them all is the fullness.48
Beyond it there is nothing inside.
This is the place they call "the uppermost."
PLACES OF THE SPIRIT
Before Christ, some came from a realm
they could not reenter,
44. See Gospel of Thomas 22, on the inner and the outer.
45. Here the text recommends the language of inner transcendence rather than that of heavenly
transcendence.
46. Matthew 8:12, 22:13, 25:30.
47.Matthew6:6.
48. Pleroma.

288. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 279
and they went where they could not come out.
Then Christ came.
Those who went in he took out.
Those who went out he took in.
EVE IN ADAM
When Eve was in Adam there was no death.49
When she was cut from him,
death came into being.
If he enters what he was and takes her in him fully,
death will disappear.50
CRUCIFIXION
"My god, my god, O lord, why have you abandoned me?"
He said these words on the cross.
But not from that place. He was already gone
RISING FROM THE DEAD
The lord rose from the dead.
He became as he was,
but now his body was perfect.
He possessed flesh,
but this was true flesh.
Our flesh isn't true.
Ours is only an image of the true.52
BEDROOM
Animals don't have a bridal bedroom,
nor do slaves or dirtied women.
Bedrooms are for free men and virgins.
49. This is the original androgynous state.
50. This is the return to (androgynous) unity, a theme emphasized in the Gospel of Thomas.
51. Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34; both quote Psalm 22:1.
52. Partially restored.

289. 2 8 0 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
BORN AGAIN
Through the holy spirit we are again engendered,53
but conceived through Christ.
We are anointed in the spirit.
When we were conceived we were united.
No one will be able to look at oneself
either in water or in a mirror without light,
nor see in light without water or mirror.
So it is fitting to baptize in light and water.
Now the light is the chrism.
THREE BUILDINGS IN JERUSALEM
There were three buildings in Jerusalem,54
one facing west called "the holy,"
another facing south called "the holy of the holy."
The third facing east was called "the holy of the holies,"
where only the high priest enters.
Baptism is the holy building.
Redemption is the holy of the holy.
The holy of the holies is the bridal chamber.
Baptism includes resurrection and redemption.
Redemption happens in the bridal chamber,
but the bridal chamber is part of something
superior to it and the others
because you will find nothing like it.
Those familiar with it are those who pray
in spirit and in truth55
for they do not pray in Jerusalem.
There are some who pray in Jerusalem,
awaiting the kingdom of heaven,
called the holy of the holies.
Before the veil was rent we had no bridal chamber
53. Or "born again."
54. The Jewish temple, which here is interpreted allegorically.
55. See John 4:23.

290. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 28l
but the image of the bridal chamber above.
So its veil was torn from top to bottom.56
It was right for some below to ascend.
GARMENT OF LIGHT
The rulers do not see you
who wear the perfect light,
and they cannot seize you.
You put on the light
in the mystery of union.
REUNION IN THE BEDROOM
If the woman and man had not come apart,
they would not know death.57
Christ came to repair the split, there from the beginning,
and join the two and give them life
who had died because of separation.
Now the woman and man are one in the chamber
with the bed, and those so joined will not come apart again.
Eve and Adam separated because when they joined
it was not in the chamber with the bed.
ADAM'S SOUL
The soul of Adam came into being through
a breath blowing into him.58 Breath is spirit.
The element given him is his mother.
Soul became spirit. When he was joined to spirit,
he spoke words incomprehensible to the powers.
56. These observations are based on accounts of the rending of the temple veil at the time of
the crucifixion of Jesus (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; also Luke 23:45; Hebrews 10:19-20).
57. This is similar to the saying above, in "Eve in Adam," about Adam and Eve in original union,
resultant disunion, and final reunion.
58. On the breath blowing into Adam, see Genesis 2:7, a verse variously interpreted in gnostic
literature.

291. 282 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
They envied him, excluded from the union of the spirit.
Their exclusion spurred them into fashioning the bridal chamber
where lovers would come and be defiled.59
JESUS AT THE JORDAN
Jesus appeared at the Jordan River with the fullness of the kingdom
of heaven.
He was born before there was birth.
He was anointed once and was anointed anew.
He who was redeemed redeemed the world.
MYSTERY
It is good to speak of mystery,
especially because the father of all
joined with the virgin who came down,
and on that day a fire shone over him.
He came to the bridal chamber.
So on that very day his body came into being.
And on that day he left the chamber with the splendor
of what passed between the bride and bridegroom.
Through this force Jesus did everything.
It is good for each of his students
to go into the chamber and rest.
VIRGIN BIRTHS
Adam came into being from two virgins:
from the spirit and from the virgin earth,
and Christ was born of a virgin to heal the initial fall.
TWO TREES OF PARADISE
Two trees are growing in paradise.60
One bears animals, the other bears people.
59. Partially restored.
60. On the trees of paradise, see Genesis 2:9 and following, along with gnostic interpretations.

292. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 283
Adam ate from the tree that bore animals
and became an animal and brought forth animals,
and so Adam's children worship animals.
The tree whose fruit Adam ate is the tree of knowledge.
So his sins increased. If he had eaten fruit
from the tree of life, the one bearing people,
the gods would worship man and woman,
for in the beginning god created man and woman.
Now they create god. In the world
humans make gods and worship their creation.
It would be better if the gods worshiped them!61
A MAN AND HIS CHILDREN
A man does what he has the skills to do.
He has the ability to make children.
He does it easily in a few seconds.
His accomplishment shows in his children.
They are the image.
He was also made after the image,
doing things with his physical strength
and producing his children with ease.
SLAVES AND THE FREE
In this world the slaves serve the free.
In the kingdom of heaven the free will serve the slaves,
and the attendants of the bridal chamber
will minister to the wedding guests.
The attendants of the bridal chamber have one name, rest,
and need take no other form because they meditate
and comprehend by insight.
They are many, since they do not store their treasures
in things below, despicable things, but in unknown glory.62
61. Partially restored.
62. Partially restored. Matthew 6:19-21 also deals with treasures on earth and in heaven.

293. 284 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
INTO THE WATER
It was necessary for Jesus to descend into the water
so that he could perfect and consecrate it.
So also they who have received baptism in his name may be perfect.
He said, "It is right in this way to perfect all that is just."63
BAPTISM
When you say you will die first and then rise,
you are wrong. If you are not resurrected in life,
you will receive nothing when you are dead.
Great is baptism. Enter the water and live.
JOSEPH AND THE WOODEN CROSS
Philip the messenger64 said,
"Joseph the carpenter planted a garden of paradise
because he needed wood for his trade.
He made the cross from the trees he planted,
and his seed hung from what he planted.
His seed was Jesus, and the plant was the cross."
The tree of life in the middle of that garden
of paradise is an olive tree, and from the olive tree
comes chrism, and from that oil
comes the resurrection.
THE WORLD EATS BODIES
The world eats bodies,
and everything eaten in the world dies.
Truth eats life,
but no one fed on truth will find death.65
Jesus came and he carried food,
63. Partially restored. Matthew 3:15 is cited here.
64. Apostle.
65. Compare, perhaps, Gospel of Thomas 11, on the living who will not die.

294. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 285
giving life to whoever wanted it
so they might not die.
ADAM IN PARADISE
God planted a garden, and humans were placed
in the garden. They lived among many trees
with the blessing and in the image of god.
The things in it I will eat as I wish.
Here in this garden they will tell me,
"Eat this or do not eat that, just as you wish."
Here I will eat all things,
where the tree of knowledge is.66
That tree killed Adam,
but here the tree of knowledge made us alive.
The law was the tree.
It has the power to give knowledge of good and evil.
It did not remove me from evil
or set me among the good.
It created death for those who ate it. When they said,
"Eat this or do not eat that," death began.
SUPERIORITY OF CHRISM TO BAPTISM
The chrism is superior to baptism.
From the word chrism we have been called Christians,
and surely not from the word baptism.
And because of the chrism Christ has his name.
The father anointed the son,
and the son anointed the messengers,
and the messengers anointed us.
Who has been anointed possesses everything:
resurrection, light, cross, holy spirit.
The father gave him this in the bridal chamber.
He merely accepted the gift.
66. Partially restored.

295. 286 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
The father was in the son and the son in the father.
This is the kingdom of heaven.
LAUGHING CHRIST
The lord said it perfectly:
"Some have entered the kingdom of heaven laughing,
and they have come out laughing."
They do not remain there:
one because he is not a Christian,
another because he laments his later acts.
As soon as Christ went down into the water
he came out laughing at everything in this world,
not because he thought it a trifle, but out of contempt.67
Whoever wants to enter the kingdom of heaven will do so.
Whoever despises everything of this world, scorns it as a trifle,
will emerge laughing.
So with the bread and the cup and the oil,
for above is one superior to all these.68
CREATION
The world came into being through error.
The agent who made it69
wanted it to be imperishable and immortal.
He failed. He came up with less than his desire.
The world was never incorruptible,
nor was its maker. Things are not imperishable,
but children are. Nothing can endure
that is not first a child. Whoever cannot receive
surely will be unable to give.
CUP OF PRAYER
The cup of prayer holds wine and water.
It is appointed for the blood for which thanks is given.
67. On the laughing Christ see the Second Treatise of the Great Seth and the Round Dance of
the Cross.
68. Partially restored.
69. The creator of the world, the demiurge.

296. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
It is filled with holy spirit
and is of the perfect human.
When we drink, we drink the perfect human.
LIVING WATER
The living water is a body.
We must put on the living human.
When you go into the water, you strip naked
and put on the living human.
A HORSE SIRES A HORSE
A horse sires a horse, a human gives birth to a human,
a god engenders a god.
Compare the bridegroom and the bride.
Their children were born in the chamber.
No Jew was ever born to Greek parents
as long as the world has existed.
And as Christians, we do not descend from the Jews.
There was another people.
These blessed ones were the chosen ones,
the chosen people of the living god;
and then the true man, the earthly son,
and the seed of the earthly son.70
In the world these are the true people.
They are the attendants of the bridal chamber.71
POWER AND WEAKNESS
In this world, power and weakness mingle
when man and woman have sex.
Joining is different in the eternal realm,
though we use the same names to speak of it.
There are names beyond the ordinary ones
and stronger than showy brute strength.
70. Or "human son," "son of man."
71. Partially restored.

297. 288 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Yet all is the same, and this is incomprehensible
to hearts of flesh.
KNOWLEDGE OF SELF
Should you who possess everything not know yourself?72
If you do not know yourself,
you will not enjoy what you own.
But know yourself
and what you have enjoy.
GARMENT OF LIGHT
The perfect human can neither be restrained nor seen.
If they see him, they can stop him,
so there is no way to grace but to put on
the perfect light and become perfect.
All who put on that garment will enter the kingdom.
This is the perfect light.
We must become perfect before leaving this world.
Who is rich and has not thrown it off
will not share in the kingdom
but will go as imperfect into the middle.
Only Jesus knows where that will end.73
THE HOLY PERSON
The priest is fully holy, including his body.
Does one take bread and make it holy?
Or the cup or anything drunk?
Are they sanctified?74
If so, why not the body too?
72. This set of reflections upon knowing or not knowing oneself recalls the Delphic maxim
"Know yourself," as well as Gospel of Thomas 3.
73. Partially restored.
74. These are eucharistic themes.

298. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 289
BAPTISM AND DEATH
By perfecting the water of baptism,
Jesus emptied it of death.
We go into the water but not into death,
so we are not poured out into the wind of the world.75
Whenever that wind blows, winter comes.
When the holy spirit breathes, summer blows in.
KNOWLEDGE AND LOVE
Whoever has knowledge of the truth is a free being,
but the free human doesn't sin.
"Whoever sins is the slave of sin."76
Truth is the mother, knowledge the father.
Those who think that sinning does not apply to them
are called free by the world.
Knowledge of the truth can make one arrogant,
giving meaning to the words "being free."
It makes them feel superior to the world.
But love builds up.77
Who is really free through knowledge
is a slave because of love for those
who have not yet attained the freedom of knowledge.
Knowledge makes them capable of freedom.
Love never calls something its own,
yet it too may possess the same thing.
Love never says, "This is mine," or "That is mine,"
but "All these are yours."
SPIRITUAL FRAGRANCE
Spiritual love is wine and fragrance.
Those nearby also enjoy it
75. These are baptismal themes.
76. John 8:34.
77.1 Corinthians 8:1.

299. 290 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
from those who are anointed.
But if the anointed withdraw and leave,
then those unanointed, who are hanging around,
remain in their bad odor.
The Samaritan gave nothing but wine and oil to the wounded.
Only the ointment. It healed the wounds,
for "love covers a multitude of sins."79
CHILDREN AND ADULTERY
The children a woman gives birth to
resemble the man who loves her.
If her husband loves her,
then they are like her husband.
If affections comes from an adulterer,
then the children are like him.
Often, if a woman sleeps with her husband
out of need, while her heart is with the adulterer
with whom she also has sex,
her child will look like the adulterer.
You who live together with the son of god,
love not the world but the lord,
so your children will look not like the world
but like the lord.
SEX AND SPIRIT
Humans have sex with humans, horses with horses,
donkeys with donkeys.
Those of one sort usually linger with those like them.
So spirit mingles with spirit
and thought consorts with thought
and light shares light.
If you are born a person, a person will love you.
78. Luke 10:33-35 describes the actions of the good Samaritan.
79.1 Peter 4:8.

300. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 291
If you become a spirit, a spirit will join with you.
If you become thought, thought will mingle with you.
If you become light, light will share you.
If you are of those from above,
one of those from above will rest in you.
If you become a horse or a donkey or bull or dog or sheep
or another animal that is wild or tame,
then neither a person nor spirit nor thought nor light
can love you.
None of those from above or within can rest in you,
and you have no part in them.
SLAVES AND FREEDOM
Those who are enslaved against their will
can be free.
Those who are freed by favor of a master
but have sold themselves into slavery
can no longer be free.
FARMING
Farming in this world demands four elements.
A harvest is collected and taken into the barn
as a result of water, earth, wind, and light.
God's farming also has four elements:
faith, hope, love, and knowledge.80
Faith is our earth in which we take root.
Hope is the water through which we are nourished.
Love is the wind through which we grow.
Knowledge is the light through which we ripen.
Grace exists in four ways:
earthborn, heavenly, from highest heaven,
and living in truth.81
80. On these elements see 1 Corinthians 13 and the Secret Book of James.
81. Partially restored.

301. 2 9 2 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
BLESSINGS ON ONE WHO NEVER HARMS A SOUL
Blessings on one who never harms a soul.
That person is Jesus Christ.
He came to the whole earth and distressed no one.
Blessings on one like him, the perfect person.
This is the word.
Tell us about the word, since it is hard to define.
How shall we be able to accomplish such a feat?
How will he comfort everyone?
Especially, it is improper to cause anyone distress,
whether that person be great or small,
infidel or believer.
It is improper to comfort only those who enjoy good deeds.
Some find it useful to comfort one who is lucky.
You who do good deeds cannot comfort them,
for it goes against your will.
You cannot cause them distress, since you are not afflicting them.
Yet you who are lucky in life sometimes cause distress
unintentionally.
but the source is not you but the other person's wickedness.
Whoever has the qualities of the perfect human
is happy in the good.
Yet some are enormously put out by these distinctions.
A HOUSEHOLDER WITH EVERYTHING
There was a householder who had every possible thing,82
be it son or slave or cattle or dog or pig or wheat
or barley or chaff or grass or castor oil or meat or acorn.
He was sensible and knew what each one's food was.
He served children bread and meat.
He served slaves castor oil and meal.
82.This story or parable of the householder, known only in the Gospel of Philip, is given an
allegorical interpretation.

302. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 293
He threw barley and chaff and grass to the cattle.
He threw bones to the dogs,
and to pigs he threw acorns and scraps of bread.
Compare the student of god.
If you are sensible, you understand the nature of learning.
Bodily forms will not deceive you,
since you will look at the condition of each person's soul
and speak with that form.
There are many animals on earth in human form.
When you identify them,
then you throw acorns to swine,
barley and chaff and grass to cattle,
and bones to the dogs.
To slaves you will give only what is preliminary,
but to children you give what is complete.
THE EARTHLY SON AND HIS SON
There is the earthly son, and there is the son
of the earthly son.
The lord is the earthly son,83
and the son of the earthly son is he who is created
through the earthly son.
The earthly son received the capacity to create from god.
He also had the ability to engender.
He who has the ability to create is a creature.
He who has the ability to engender is an offspring.
But he who creates cannot engender.
He who engenders also has the power to create.
Now they say, "He who creates engenders,"
but his so-called offspring is merely a creature;
therefore his children are not offspring but creatures.
He who creates works openly and is visible.
He who engenders does so in private
83. That is, Christ as the human son or son of man.

303. 294 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
MYSTERY OF UNDEFILED MARRIAGE
No one can know when the husband and wife have sex
except those two.
Marriage in the world is a mystery for those who are married.
If there is a hidden defilement in the marriage,
how much greater is the true mystery of the undefiled marriage!
It is not fleshly but pure.
It belongs not to desire but to the will.
It belongs not to the darkness of the night
but to the day and the light.
If a marriage is open to the public,
it has become prostitution,
and the bride plays the harlot
not only when impregnated by another man
but even if she slips out of her bedroom and is seen.
Let her show herself only to her father and her mother
and to the friend and attendants of the bridegroom.
They are permitted to enter every day into the bridal chamber.
But let the others yearn just to listen to her voice
and to enjoy her fragrant ointments,
and let them feed on the crumbs falling from the table,
like dogs.
Bridegrooms and brides belong to the bridal chamber.
No one shall be able to see the bridegroom or bride
unless one becomes a bridegroom or bride.
ABRAHAM'S CIRCUMCISION
When Abraham rejoiced in seeing what he was to see,
he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin,
teaching us that it is proper to destroy the flesh.
HIDDEN PARTS ARE UPRIGHT
As long as they are hidden, most things in the world
are upright and live.

304. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 295
If they are revealed they die,
as is clear by the example of the visible person:
as long as the intestines are hidden, a person is alive.
When the intestines are exposed and come out,
the person will die.
So also with a tree.
While its root is hidden, it sprouts and grows.
If its root is exposed, the tree dries up.
So it is with every birth that is in the world,
not only with the revealed but also the hidden.
As long as the root of wickedness is hidden, it is powerful.
But when it is recognized, it is dissolved.
When it is revealed, it perishes.
That is why the word says,
"Even now the ax lies set against the root of the trees."84
It will not merely cut—what is cut sprouts again—
but the ax penetrates deeply until it brings up the root.
ROOT OF EVIL
Jesus pulled out the root of the whole place
while others did it only partially.
As for us, let each one dig down after the root of evil
that is within us
and pluck it out of our heart from the root.
It will be uprooted if we recognize it.
But if we are ignorant of it, it takes root in us
and produces fruit in our heart. It masters us.
We are its slaves. It takes us captive
to make us do what we do not want;
and what we do want we do not do.
It is powerful because we have not recognized it.
While it exists it is active.
84. Matthew 3:10.

305. 296 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
IGNORANCE
Ignorance is the mother of all evil.
Ignorance will eventuate in death,
because those who come from ignorance
neither were nor are nor will be.
But those who are in the truth will be perfect
when all the truth is revealed.
For truth is like ignorance: while hidden it rests in itself,
but when revealed and recognized,
it is praised in that it is stronger than ignorance and error.
It gives freedom. The word said,
"If you know the truth, the truth will make you free."85
Ignorance is a slave,
knowledge is freedom.
If we know the truth, we shall find the fruits of the truth
within us.
If we join it, it will fulfill us.
THE STRONG AND WEAK,
THE MANIFEST AND HIDDEN
Now we have the manifest things of creation.
We say, "The strong are they who are held in high regard,
and the obscure are the weak who are despised."
Contrast the manifest things of truth:
they are weak and despised, whereas the hidden things are strong
and held in high regard.
The mysteries of truth are revealed,
though, in type and image.86
The bridal chamber remains hidden.
It is the holy in the holy.
The veil at first concealed how god controls creation,
but when the veil is torn and things inside are revealed,
85. John 8:32.
86. This fits in with the Alexandrian gnostic invention of hermeneutics, an allegorical way of
interpreting scripture.

306. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 297
this house will be left desolate,
or rather it will be destroyed.
But the whole inferior godhead will not flee from these places
into the holies of the holies,
for it cannot mix with the pure light and the perfect fullness.
Rather, it will be under the wings of the cross and under its arms.
This ark will be the salvation of people
when the floodwater surges over them.87
SECRET OF THE TRUTH
If some belong to the order of the priesthood,
they will be able to go within the veil with the high priest.
So the veil was not torn at the top,
since it would have been open only to those above.
Nor was it torn at the bottom,
since it would have been revealed only to those below.
But it was rent from top to bottom.88
Those above opened to us who are below,
that we may go in to the secret of the truth.
The truth is what is held in high regard, since it is strong.
But we shall go in there by means of lowly types
and forms of weakness.
They are lowly when compared with the perfect glory.
There is glory that surpasses glory.
There is power that surpasses power.
Therefore, the perfect things have opened to us
together with the hidden things of truth.
The holies of the holies has been revealed,
and the bridal chamber has invited us in.
THE PERFECT LIGHT
As long as the seed is hidden, wickedness is ineffectual,
but it has not yet been removed from the midst of the seed
87. These lines reflect on the crucifixion and the great flood.
88. Again, observations based on the rending of the temple veil at the time of the crucifixion.

307. 298 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
of the holy spirit.
Everyone is a slave of evil.
But when the seed is revealed, the perfect light will flow out on
everyone.
And all those who are in the light will receive the chrism.
Then the slaves will be free and the captives ransomed.
"Every plant that my heavenly father has not planted will be
uprooted."89
Those who are separated will be joined and filled.
Everyone who enters the bridal chamber will kindle the light,
for it burns just as in marriages performed,
though they happen at night.
That fire burns only at night and is put out.
Yet the mysteries of this marriage are perfected
rather in the day and the light.
Neither that day nor its light ever sets.
If you become an attendant of the bridal chamber,
you will receive the light.
If you do not receive it while in those places,
you cannot receive it in the other place.
You who receive the light will not be seen nor detained.
And no one will be able to torment you
even while you live in the world.
And when you leave the world
you have already received the truth in the images.
The world has become the eternal realm,90
because the eternal realm is fullness for you.
This is the way it is. It is revealed to you alone,
not hidden in the darkness and the night
but in a perfect day and a holy light.
89. Matthew 15:13.
90. Or "aeon."

308. 16
Letter to Flora
Ptolemy
Ptolemy was Valentinos's disciple and apparently succeeded him in
the school sometime after 160. He was called the greatest system­atic
theologian of the school. He was also an allegorical exegete of
the Gospel of John. Ptolemy's letter is addressed to "dear sister Flora," Flora
presumably being an educated Christian woman who will receive the theolo­gian's
lessons on questions of Mosaic law. After the salutation, however, there
is no indication that Flora is a real person. She may represent the Christian
church in Rome or simply individual Christian readers who may be per­suaded
by the broader speculation of a Valentinian gnostic.
The letter speaks, especially at the be ginning, as a fellow Christian mak­ing
distinctions between the validity of the law in the Hebrew Bible—origi­nally
designed for the Jews, who could not abide by pure law—and the New
Testament. Eventually the path of instruction leads to a strong endorsement
of the gnostic perfect god over his biblical adversary, who is the maker of
the universe and the demiurge. The savior came to earth, it becomes clear, to
complete his spiritual regeneration. He was not a messenger of the creator
god but an emanation of the father of all. Throughout the persuasive letter,
however, the author presents Valentinian gnostic ideas as completely concor­dant
with Christianity.
Ptolemy tells Flora that the law in the five books of Moses has three
parts by three authors. There is the pure law of god in the form of the ten

309. 300 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
commandments (which the savior came to fulfill, not to destroy); Moses' own
additions to the law; and the additions by the elders. The latter two parts were
mixed with impure and evil law, which was a compromise necessary to control
the people before the advent of New Testament rigor. These lapses in law were
made with regard to "hard-hearted divorce," revenge killing, and all other in­justices.
For his part, the savior Jesus altered the commands on offerings, cir­cumcision,
fasting, and the Passover unleavened bread. The new law takes
commands to a spiritual level. Following Paul, one should have circumcision
not of the flesh but of the spiritual heart.
Ptolemy's exegesis of Christian law was certainly already clear in Paul's
changes and the New Testament itself, but now it is presented in a way to
show that pure law derives not from the perfect god but from the demiurge,
the creator god of the Bible. The god of the Bible, however, is presented not
entirely as a narrow, angry god of the Jews, but as a middle deity between the
perfect, ungenerated god and the devil. That god of the law, who is still in
the Christian province, is the arbitrator of justice, which depends on him.
But he is inferior to the perfect god, as his justice is lower. His world is cor­ruption,
darkness, and the material, while the god of all is incorruption and
self-existent light. Finally, the savior is with the perfect god. We read, "The
substance of the latter [the god of all] produced a double power, while the
savior is an image of the greater one."
At the conclusion, the writer of the didactic letter returns to the reader,
telling her personally, "These points will be of great benefit to you in the fu­ture,
if like fair and good ground you have received fertile seeds and go on to
show forth their fruit." The Letter to Flora is a letter to convert. It speaks for
the power of Valentinian thought to address significant issues, concerning god
and law, in a creative and thoughtful manner.
LETTER TO FLORA1
RECASTING OF THE MOSAIC LAW
The law ordained through Moses, my dear sister Flora, has not been under­stood
by many persons, who have accurate knowledge neither of him who
i. Ptolemy's Letter to Flora survives in Greek as a quotation from a work by the heresiologist
Epiphanius of Salamis in his Panarion (33.3-7); translated by Grant, Gnosticism, pp. 184-90;
adapted by Willis Barnstone.

310. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 301
ordained it nor of its commandments. I think that this will be perfectly clear
to you when you have learned the contradictory opinions about it.
Some say that it is legislation given by god the father of all; others, taking
the contrary course, maintain stubbornly that it was ordained by the opposite,
the devil who causes destruction, just as they attribute the fashioning of the
world to him, saying that he is the father and maker of this universe. Both are
completely in error; they refute each other, and neither has reached the truth
of the matter.For it is evident that the law was not ordained by the perfect god
the father, for it is secondary, being imperfect and in need of completion by
another, containing commandments alien to the nature and thought of such
a god. On the other hand, one cannot impute the law to the injustice of the ad­versary,
2 for it is opposed to injustice. Such persons do not comprehend what
was said by the savior. "For a house or city divided against itself cannot stand,"
declared our savior.3
Furthermore, the messenger4 says that the creation of the world is due to
him, for "everything was made through him and apart from him nothing was
made."5 Thus he takes away in advance the baseless wisdom of the false accus­ers
and shows that the creation is due not to a god who corrupts but to the one
who is just and hates evil. Only unintelligent people have this idea, people who
do not recognize the providence of the creator and have blinded not only the
eye of the soul but also the eye of the body.
From what has been said, it is evident that these persons entirely miss the
truth; each of the two groups has experienced this, the first because they do
not know the god of justice, the second because they do not know the father
of all, who was revealed by him alone who came and who knew him.
It remains for us who have been counted worthy of the knowledge of both
of these to provide you with an accurate explanation of the nature of the law
and of the legislator by whom it was ordained. We shall draw the proofs of
what we say from the words of the savior, which alone can lead us without
error to the comprehension of reality.
THE THREEFOLD SOURCES OF THE LAW
First, you must learn that the entire law contained in the Pentateuch of
Moses was not ordained by one legislator, I mean, not by god alone; some
2. Satan.
3. Matthew 12:25.
4. Or "apostle," here probably John.
5. John 1:3.

311. 302 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
commandments are Moses', and some were given by men. The words of the
savior teach us this triple division. The first part must be attributed to god
himself and his legislating, the second to Moses—not in the sense that god
legislates through him, but in the sense that Moses gave some legislation
under the influence of his own ideas—and the third to the elders of the
people, who seem to have ordained some commandments of their own at
the beginning. You will now learn how the truth of this theory is proved by
the words of the savior.
In some discussion with those who disputed with the savior about
divorce, which was permitted in the law, he said, "Because of your hard-heartedness
Moses permitted a man to divorce his wife; from the beginning
it was not so; for god made this marriage, and what the lord joined together,
man must not separate."6 In this way he shows that there is a law of god,
which prohibits the divorce of a wife from her husband, and another law,
that of Moses, which permits the breaking of this yoke because of hard-heartedness.
In fact, Moses lays down legislation contrary to that of god; for
joining is contrary to not joining. But if we examine the intention of Moses
in giving this legislation, it will be seen that he did not give it arbitrarily or of
his own accord, but by necessity because of the weakness of those for whom
the legislation was given. Since they were unable to keep the intention of god,
according to which it was not lawful for them to reject their wives, with
whom some of them disliked to live, and therefore were in danger of turning
to greater injustice and thence to destruction, Moses wanted to remove the
cause of dislike, which was placing them in jeopardy of destruction. There­fore
because of the critical circumstances, choosing a lesser evil in place of a
greater, he ordained, of his own accord, a second law, that of divorce, so that
if they could not observe the first, they might keep this and not turn to unjust
and evil actions, through which complete destruction would be the result for
them. This was his intention when he gave legislation contrary to that of god.
Therefore it is indisputable that here the law of Moses is different from the
law of god, even if we have demonstrated the fact from only one example.
The savior also makes plain the fact that some traditions of the elders are
interwoven with the law. "For god said," he states, '"Honor your father and
your mother, that it may be well with you.' But you have declared," he says, ad­dressing
the elders, "that what help you might have received from me is a gift
6. Matthew 19:8, 6.

312. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 303
to god; and you have nullified the law of god through the tradition of your eld­ers."
7 Isaiah also proclaimed this, saying, "This people honors me with their
lips, but their heart is far from me, teaching precepts that are the command­ments
of men."8
THE TRIPARTITE LAW OF GOD
Therefore it is obvious that the whole law is divided into three parts; we find
in it the legislation of Moses, of the elders, and of god himself. This division of
the entire law, as made by us, has brought to light what is true in it. This part,
the law of god himself, is in turn divided into three parts: the pure legislation
not mixed with evil, which is properly called law, which the savior came not to
destroy but to complete9—for what he completed was not alien to him but
needed completion, for it did not possess perfection—next, the legislation in­terwoven
with inferiority and injustice, which the savior destroyed because it
was alien to his nature; and finally, the legislation that is exemplary and sym­bolic,
an image of what is spiritual and transcendent, which the savior trans­ferred
from the perceptible and phenomenal to the spiritual and invisible.
The law of god, pure and not mixed with inferiority, is the decalogue, those
ten sayings engraved on two tables, forbidding things not to be done and en­joining
things to be done. These contain pure but imperfect legislation and re­quired
the completion made by the savior. There is also the law interwoven
with injustice, laid down for vengeance and the requital of previous injuries,
ordaining that an eye should be cut out for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and
that a murder should be avenged by a murder. The person who is the second
one to be unjust is no less unjust than the first; he simply changes the order of
events while performing the same action. Admittedly, this commandment was
a just one and still is just, because of the weakness of those for whom the leg­islation
was made so that they would not transgress the pure law. But it is alien
to the nature and goodness of the father of all. No doubt it was appropriate to
the circumstances, or even necessary. For he who does not want one murder
committed, saying, "You shall not kill," commands a murder to be repaid by
another murder, and so he has given a second law, which enjoins two murders
7. Matthew 15:4-9. Ptolemy here cites Matthew's (and Jesus') discussion of whether there are
occasions when one need not honor father and mother.
8. Isaiah 29:13.
9. Matthew 5:17.

313. 304 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
although he had forbidden one. This fact proves that he was unsuspectingly
the victim of necessity. This is why, when his son came, he destroyed this part
of the law while admitting that it came from god. He counts this part of the
law as in the old religion, not only in other passages but also where he said,
"God said, 'He who curses father or mother shall surely die.' "10
Finally, there is the exemplary part, ordained in the image of spiritual and
transcendent matters; I mean the part dealing with offerings and circumcision
and the Sabbath and fasting and Passover and unleavened bread and other
similar matters. Since all these things are images and symbols, when the truth
was made manifest they were translated to another meaning. In their phe­nomenal
appearance and their literal application they were destroyed, but in
their spiritual meaning they were restored; the names remained the same, but
the content was changed. Thus the savior commanded us to make offerings
not of irrational animals or of incense of this worldly sort, but of spiritual
praise and glorification and thanksgiving and of sharing and well-doing with
our neighbors. He wanted us to be circumcised, not in regard to our physical
foreskin but in regard to our spiritual heart; to keep the Sabbath, for he wishes
us to be idle in regard to evil works; to fast, not in physical fasting but in spir­itual,
in which there is abstinence from everything evil.11 Among us external
fasting is also observed, since it can be advantageous to the soul if it is done
reasonably, not for imitating others or from habit or because of a special day
appointed for this purpose. It is also observed so that those who are not yet
able to keep the true fast may have a reminder of it from the external fast. Sim­ilarly,
Paul the messenger shows that the Passover and the unleavened bread
are images when he says, "Christ our Passover has been sacrificed, in order that
you may be unleavened bread, not containing leaven"—by leaven he here
means evil—"but may be a new batch of dough."12
Thus the law of god itself is obviously divided into three parts. The first
was completed by the savior, for the commandments, You shall not kill, you
shall not commit adultery, you shall not swear falsely, are included in the for­bidding
of anger, desire, and swearing. The second part was entirely destroyed.
For an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, interwoven with injustice and
itself a work of injustice, was destroyed by the savior through its opposite.
10. Matthew 15:4, citing Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9.
11. On a spiritual understanding of circumcision, see Romans 2:25-29 and Gospel of Thomas
53; on that of Sabbath observance and fasting, see Gospel of Thomas 27.
12.1 Corinthians 5:7.

314. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 3«5
Opposites cancel out. "For I say to you, do not resist one who is evil, but if any­one
strikes you, turn the other cheek."13 Finally, there is the part translated
and changed from the literal to the spiritual, this symbolic legislation which is
an image of transcendent things. For the images and symbols that represent
other things were good as long as the truth had not come; but since the truth
has come, we must perform the actions of the truth, not those of the image.
The students of the savior and the messenger Paul showed that this the­ory
is true, speaking of the part dealing with images, as we have already said,
in mentioning the Passover for us and the unleavened bread; of the law inter­woven
with injustice when he says that "the law of commandments in ordi­nances
was destroyed"14; and of that not mixed with anything inferior when
he says that "the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and
good."15
I think I have shown you sufficiently, as well as one can in brief compass,
the addition of human legislation in the law and the triple division of the law
of god itself.
THE LAW IS BY THE DEMIURGE
It remains for us to say who this god is who ordained the law; but I think this
too has been shown you in what we have already said, if you have listened to it
attentively. For if the law was not ordained by the perfect god himself, as we
have already taught you, nor by the devil, a statement one cannot possibly
make, the legislator must be someone other than these two. In fact, he is the
demiurge and maker of this universe and everything in it; and because he is
essentially different from these two and is between them, he is rightly de­scribed
as intermediate.
And if the perfect god is good by nature, as in fact he is, for our savior de­clared
that there is only a single good god, his father whom he manifested;16
and if the one who is of the opposite nature is evil and wicked, characterized
by injustice; then the one situated between the two, neither good nor evil and
unjust, can properly be called just, since he is the arbitrator of the justice that
depends on him. On the one hand, this god will be inferior to the perfect god
13. Matthew 5:39.
14. Ephesians 2:15.
15. Romans 7:12.
16. See Matthew 19:17, on one good god.

315. 306 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
and lower than his justice, since he is generated and not ungenerated; there is
only one ungenerated father, from whom are all things,17 since all things depend
on him in their own ways. On the other hand, he will be greater and more
powerful than the adversary, by nature, because he has a substance and na­ture
different from the substance of either of them. The substance of the ad­versary
is corruption and darkness, for he is material and complex, while the
substance of the ungenerated father of all is incorruption and self-existent
light, simple and homogeneous. The substance of the latter produced a dou­ble
power, while the savior is an image of the greater one.
Do not let this trouble you for the present in your desire to learn how from
one first principle of all, simple, and acknowledged by us and believed by us,
ungenerated and incorruptible and good, were constituted these natures of
corruption and the middle, which are of different substances, although it is
characteristic of the good to generate and produce things that are like itself
and have the same substance. For, if god permit, you will later learn about
their origin and generation, when you are judged worthy of the apostolic tra­dition
that we too have received by succession. We too are able to prove all our
points by the teaching of the savior.
In making these brief statements to you, my sister Flora, I have not grown
weary; and while I have treated the subject with brevity, I have also discussed
it sufficiently. These points will be of great benefit to you in the future, if like
fair and good ground you have received fertile seeds and go on to show forth
their fruit.
17.1 Corinthians 8:6 describes the one divine father with the same acclamation ("from whom
are all things").

316. 17
Commentary on the
Gospel of John
Herakleon
J
—fl erakleon's Commentary on the Gospel of John is the first
• substantive exegesis, Christian or gnostic, that we have of a
JL. canonical gospel. Herakleon (also spelled Heracleon) lived
I
at the end of the second century and probably into the third; he was a disci­ple
of Valentinos. Spread throughout the Roman Empire, east and west,
Valentinian gnosticism initially sought not to separate from Christianity but
to become the true Christian way; for that reason, Herakleon's exegesis was
directed specifically to Christians. But Christian authority viewed gnosticism
as an impossible and dangerous heresy and refused to compromise. Refuted
by Origen in great detail, Herakleon's analyses and allegorical interpretations
were nevertheless so important that they served as a model for the famous
theologian's own exegetical methods: Origen, too, became famous for his ex­egesis
of the Gospel of John. In this respect he was like other major theolo­gians,
such as Clement of Alexandria, who were profoundly imbued with the
thought and reasoning of their opponents.
Herakleon's purpose in explaining the inner meaning of John was to bring
the Christian reader to a decisively new interpretation of the gospel and the
meaning of the role of the savior. In his exegesis, the familiar vocabulary and

317. 308 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
concepts of the gnostics appear: aeons, pleroma, demiurge, and the father of
truth. Yet even here he refrains, probably because of the intended audience,
from going into the esoteric mythopoetic structure of the Valentinian cosmos,
with its tales of Sophia and other principle eternal beings (aeons) in the full­ness
(pleroma).
Herakleon focuses both on the nature of the savior and on those who have
accepted and denied him. Jesus is accepted as the anointed (Christ, messiah) by
some Jews, whom we now call Christians, and not by other Jews. He informs us
that the Jews of the New Testament (by this he is excluding Jesus' followers and
Jesus himself) are even seen as not descended from the patriarch Abraham but
as descendants of the devil, and he cites John 8:44, "You are from your father
the devil." "They are neither children of Abraham nor children of god, because
they do not love Jesus." They are from the demiurge, the biblical creator god.
At this point he moves into the crucial area of Christian and Christian-gnostic
thought and confusion—who is this Jesus? The orthodox views of the
church father Justin (or Justin Martyr, as he is conventionally known) that
"Jesus Christ alone really was born as the son of god"l and of Irenaeus that
"god was made man"2 contrast with the gnostic view that Christ was not a
human. In her Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis, Elaine Pagels compares
Christian belief and gnostic heterdoxy:
Heracleon claims, for example, that those who insist that Jesus, a
man who lived "in the flesh," is "Christ" fail to distinguish be­tween
literal and symbolic truth. Those who write accounts of
the revelation as alleged biographies of "Jesus of Nazareth"—or
even of Jesus as messiah—focus on mere historical "externals"
and miss the inner truth they signify.3
Herakleon saw the view of an earthly Jesus as an error of the flesh in which un-denied
historical data pass for spiritual truth when such events have been re­ally
just earthly reflections of a divine reality whose appearance of corporality
was pure illusion. The word was not made real flesh in the instance of Jesus
Christ. The word was made image, a simulacrum of the flesh.
1. Justin, First Apology 21.
2. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.2.1.
3. Pagels, Johannine Gospels in Gnostic Exegesis, 13.

318. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 309
In his commentary, which moves through the pages toward more purely
Valentinian speculation, Herakleon speaks of the three levels of people: the
material (or hylic, earthly), the psychical (with soul, psyche), and the spiritual
(or pneumatic, with spirit, pneuma) and their special apprehension of reality.
The material people worship the demiurge, who made the earth and flesh; the
psychical people also worship the demiurge and god as Jesus in the flesh. They
all miss what the spiritual people apprehend, which is the higher father of
truth, or whatever of the many names the transcendent gnostic deity is given.
In disputing the nature of reality that the other Christians perceive, Herakleon
is not suggesting that Jesus did not exist or that the events recounted in the
gospels were false. They did take place, yet their meaning is not the apparent
historical meaning but an image of the inner meaning, of a higher reality.
Through knowledge, the spiritual one comes upon and participates in that
higher reality, which is the gnostic deity. Sometimes the elect are unaware of
their spiritual, pneumatic level and can falter: the gnostics tended to ascribe
such ignorance to error rather than moral sin. The true gnostics understand
the symbolic meaning of the images in the world, and turn inward to look for
the indescribable and secret forces of the divine.
COMMENTARY ON JOHN4
(1) John 1:3
Through the word everything came to be,
and without the word nothing came to be.
Everything is the world and what is in the world, but the aeon and what is in
the aeon was not born through the word. Nothing is what is in the world and
the creation. Who provided the cause of the generation of the world to the
demiurge was the word, who is not the one from or by whom but through
whom the world was generated. The word did not create as if he were given
energy by another, but while he was providing energy, another, the demiurge,
created. In that sense the world was generated through the word.
4. Herakleon's Commentary on John; translated from the Greek by Willis Barnstone.

319. 3io LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
(2) John 1:4
In him was life.
"In him" refers to spiritual people, for he5 first formed them in accordance
with their generation, making what has been seeded by another, and making
its form, illumination, and own outline.
(3) John 1:18
No one has ever seen god.
Only the one born of god,
who is in the heart of his father,
he has made him known.
This passage was said not by the baptizer6 but by the student John.
(4) John 1:21
They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?"
He said, "I am not."
"Are you the prophet?"
He answered, "No."
John acknowledges that he was not the Christ or a prophet or Elijah.
(5) John 1:23
I am the voice of one crying in the desert.
The word is the savior. The voice that was in the desert is symbolized through
John. And its echo is the whole prophetic order. The voice that is closely
related to the word, to reason, becomes the word, just as woman is trans­formed
into man. And for the echo there will be a transformation into voice,
replacing the student with the voice that changes into the word. The slave
changes from echo into voice. When the savior calls John a prophet and Eli­jah,
7 he does not designate his nature but his attributes. But when he calls
him greater than the prophets and among those born of women,8 he is char­acterizing
John himself. When John is asked about himself, he does not speak
5. The word.
6. John the baptizer.
7. See Matthew 11:9,14.
8. See Matthew 11:10-11.

320. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 311
of his attributes. Attributes can be clothing, things other than himself. When
he was asked about his clothing, whether he was his clothing, would he have
answered yes?
John 1:19
The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him,
"Who are you?"
It was the duty of these persons to investigate and ask about these matters,
since they were devoted to god. John also was of the tribe of Levi. They asked
him if he was a prophet, since they wished to learn about it. "Greater than
prophets"9 and "among those born of women"10 was prophesied by Isaiah, so
none of the earlier prophets was considered worthy of this honor by god.
(6) John 1:25
Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah
or the prophet?
Only Christ and Elijah and the prophets should baptize. The Pharisees asked
the question out of malice, not from a desire to learn.
(7) John 1:26
I baptize in water.
John answers those sent by Pharisees not with respect to their question but on
his own terms.
(8) John 1:26
Among you stands one you do not know.
This signifies that he is already present, here in the world and among people,
and he is already manifest to everyone.
John 1:27
One who will come after me,
whose sandal strap I am unworthy to loosen.
9. Matthew 11:10.
10. Matthew 11:11.

321. 312 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
John is the precursor of Christ. With these words the baptizer acknowledges
that he is not worthy of even the least honorable service to Christ. "I am un­worthy"
signifies that he came down from the greatness because of me and he
assumed flesh as a sandal. I cannot account for or describe or explain the dis­pensation
of this flesh. The world is the sandal. The demiurge of the world,11
who is inferior to Christ, acknowledges these facts in this passage.
(9) John 1:28
All this happened in Bethany across the Jordan.
[Origen preferred reading Bethabara to Bethany.]
(10) John 1:29
Look, the lamb of god who takes away the wrong of the world.
As a prophet John said "lamb of god." As more than a prophet,12 he also said
"who takes away the wrong of the world." The first expression refers to Christ's
body, the second one to him who was in the body. As the lamb is imperfect in
the genus of sheep, so the body is imperfect compared to him who inhabits the
body. If he had wished to ascribe perfection to the body, he would have spo­ken
of a ram that was to be sacrificed.
(11) John 2:12
After this he went down to Capernaum.
Here too the passage signifies the beginning of another dispensation, since "he
went down" was not spoken without purpose. Capernaum means both the
ends of the world and the material things to which he descended. Because to
him this was an alien place, nothing is noted as having been done or said there.
(12) John 2:13
It was almost the Passover of the Jews.
The great feast was a symbol of the passion of the savior, when the sheep not
only was slain but, when eaten, gave rest. When sacrificed, it meant the passion
of the savior in the world. When eaten, it meant rest, which lies in marriage.
11. That is, allegorically, John.
12. See Matthew 11:9.

322. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 313
(13) John 2:13-15
Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found the
people selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the coin
changers sitting there. He made a whip out of ropes and
drove out all the animals, the sheep and the oxen.
The ascent to Jerusalem signifies the ascent of the lord from material things to
the psychical place, which is an image of Jerusalem.13 He found them in the
innermost holy place, not in the temple courtyard, so one might think that a
simple calling, even when not from the spirit, is helped by the lord. The holy
place is the holy of holies in which only the high priest enters,14 and where the
spiritual people come. But the court of the temple, where the Levites also are,
is a symbol of the psychical people outside the pleroma, who are found to be
in salvation. Those who are there in the holy space selling oxen and sheep and
doves, and the money changers sitting there, are those who offer nothing
freely but look at the coming of strangers to the temple as an occasion for
trade and gain, and because of their profit and love of money supply the sac­rifices
for worshiping god. The whip that Jesus made of small cords is an
image of power and energy of the holy spirit, blowing away the wicked. The
whip and the linen15 and the winding sheet16 and other such things are also an
image of the power and energy of the holy spirit. The whip was tied on wood,
and this wood was a symbol of the cross. On this wood the gambling mer­chants
and wickedness17 were nailed and destroyed. The whip was made of
these two substances. Jesus did not make it of dead leather, since he wished to
build the church no longer as a den of thieves and merchants but as a house of
his father.
(14) John 2:17
Zeal for your house will consume me.
These words were spoken from the mouth of those powers cast out and con­sumed
by the savior.
13. Here the entry of Jesus into the temple is interpreted as the ascent from the material and the
attainment of salvation. The three Valentinian divisions of humanity are assumed. Thus Ca­pernaum
symbolizes the material, Jerusalem the psychical, and the holy of holies the spiritual.
14. See Hebrews 9:7.
15. See Revelation 15:6.
16. See Matthew 27:59.
17. See Colossians 2:14.

323. 314 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
(15) John 2:19
Destroy this temple
and in three days I shall raise it up.
In three full days, not on the third day, which is the day of the resurrection of
the church.
(16) John 2:20
This temple was built over forty-six years, and you will
raise it up in three days?
Solomon's constructing the temple in forty-six years is an image of the savior.
The number six refers to matter, that is, what is fashioned, while forty, the un-combined
realm of four,18 refers to god's breathing in19 and the seed in that
breathing in.20
(17) John 4:12
You are not greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us the well and who himself drank
and whose sons and cattle drank?
That well signified weak, temporary, and deficient life and its glory. It was lim­ited
to being worldly. This is proved by the fact that Jacob's cattle drank from
it. But the water that the savior gave is of his spirit and power. "You will not be
thirsty forevermore," for his life is eternal and will never perish like the first
water from the well. It is permanent. The grace and gift of our savior are not
taken away or consumed or defiled by whoever shares in them. But the first life
is perishable. "Water springing into eternal life" refers to those who receive life
supplied abundantly from above and who pour out what has been given them
for the eternal life of others. The Samaritan woman revealed uncritical faith,
alien to her nature, when she did not waiver about what was said to her. "Give
me this water so I won't be thirsty." She hated the shallows pierced by the word
and that place of so-called living water.
(18) John 4:16
Go and call your husband and come back here.
18. Or, "tetrad," a group of four aeons in the Valentinian concept of the pleroma.
19. On god breathing the breath of life into the nostrils of the first human, see Genesis 2:7.
20. The seed in the divine in-breathing refers to the spiritual people.

324. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 315
What this means is obvious. This is the Samaritan woman's mingling with the
pleroma. Coming with her husband to the savior, she might receive from him
power, union, and mingling with pleroma. He was not speaking to her about
an earthly husband and telling her to call him, because he knew that she
didn't have a lawful husband. The savior said to her, "Call your husband and
come back here," meaning her fellow or husband21 from the pleroma. As for
what was meant allegorically, she did not know her own husband. Simply put,
she was ashamed to admit that she had an adulterer, not a husband. "You are
right to say, I have no husband," since in the world the Samaritan woman had
no husband, for her husband was in the aeon. The six husbands signify all
the material evil to which she was bound and with which she consorted when
she was irrationally debauched, insulted, refused, and abandoned by them.
(19) John 4:19-20
Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
Our parents worshiped on this mountain.
The Samaritan properly acknowledged what was said to her. Typically only a
prophet knows all such things. She acted as appropriate to her ways, neither
lying nor openly acknowledging her immorality. Certain that he was a
prophet, she asked him about it while she revealed the cause of her sexual ac­tivity.
Because of her ignorance of god she had neglected his worship and all
that was necessary in her life. She would not have come to the well outside the
city unless she had desired to learn how, and for whom, and by worshiping
god she might escape from her sexual acts. So she said, "Our parents wor­shiped
on this mountain."
(20) John 4:21
Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when not on this mountain
nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father.
Earlier Jesus did not say, "Believe me, woman." But now he commands her to
believe. The mountain signifies the devil or his world, since the devil was one
part of the whole of matter, and the whole world is a mountain of evil, a de­serted
habitat of beasts, which all Jews who lived according to the law and all
21. In Greek, syzygos, "partner," "companion."

325. 3l6 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
the gentiles worship. Jerusalem is the creation or the creator, whom Jews
worship. In another sense the mountain is the creation, which the gentiles
worship. But you as spiritual people will worship neither the creation nor
the demiurge, but the father of truth. And he accepts her as one already faith­ful
and who will be numbered among the worshipers in truth.
(21) John 4:22
You worship what you do not know.
These are the Jews and gentiles. As Peter teaches, "We must not worship in the
Greek manner, accepting the works of matter and worshiping wood and stone,
or in the Jewish manner worship the divine. They, thinking that they alone know
god, do not know him, and worship angels and the month and the moon."22
(22) John 4:22
We worship what we know
since salvation is from the Jews.
"We" signifies the one who is in the aeon and those who have come from him.
They knew the one they worship as they worship in truth. "Salvation is from
the Jews," because he was born in Judea, but not among them, "since he was
not pleased with all of them,"23 and because from that group of people came
salvation and the word to the world. In terms of what was meant allegorically,
salvation came from the Jews because they are regarded as images of beings in
the pleroma. Earlier worshipers worshiped him who was not father, but of
flesh and error. They worshiped the creation, not the true creator, who is
Christ, since "through him everything came to be and without the word noth­ing
came to be."
(23) John 4:23
God is spirit,
and those worshiping must worship him
in spirit and truth.
Lost in the deep matter of error is what is related to the father, which is sought
after so that the father may be worshiped by those who are related to him.
22. Preaching of Peter (Kerygma Petrou), cited in Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies (Stro-mateis)
4.39-41.
23.1 Corinthians 10:5.

326. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 317
(24) John 4:23
God is spirit,
and those worshiping must worship him
in spirit and truth.
Unpolluted and pure and invisible is his divine nature. And to be worthy of
him who is worshiped one must worship in a spiritual, not a fleshly, way. For
those who are of the same nature as the father are spirit and worship in truth
and not in error, just as Paul teaches when he calls this worship a "spiritual
"24
service.
(25) John 4:25
I know a messiah is coming,
who is called the anointed.
The church expected Christ and believed that he alone would know all things.
(26) John 4:26
I am he,
talking to you.
Since the Samaritan woman was convinced that Christ would proclaim every­thing
to her when he came, he said, "Know that I who speak to you am the one
you expected." And when he acknowledged himself as the expected one who
had come, "his students came to him," since because of them he had come to
Samaria.
(27) John 4:28
Then the woman left her water pot.
The water pot that can receive life is the condition and thought of the power
contained in the savior. She left it with him, which is to say, she had such a ves­sel
with the savior, a vessel in which she had come to get living water, and she
returned to the world, proclaiming the coming of the Christ to the calling. For
through the spirit and by the spirit the soul is taken to the savior. "They went
out of the town and came toward him." This means they went out of the town,
that is, their former worldly way of life, and through faith came to the savior.
24. Romans 12:1.

327. 318 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
(28) John 4:31
Meanwhile, the students were saying,
"Rabbi, eat."
They wanted to share with him something of what they had bought in
Samaria.
(29) John 4:32
I have a meat to eat that you do not know.
[Herakleon does not comment on this passage.]
(30) John 4:33
Then the students said to each other, "Could someone have brought him
something to eat?"
The students understood on a low level and imitated the Samaritan woman,
who said, "Sir, you have no bucket and the well is deep." 25
(31) John 4:32
My meat is to do the will of him
who sent me and to complete his work.
The savior told his students that this was what he said to the woman, calling
the will of the father his meat. This was his food and rest and power. The fa­ther's
will for people is to know the father and be saved. This was the savior's
work, for which reason he was sent into Samaria, that is, into the world.
(32) John 4:35
Four more months and then comes the harvest?
He speaks of the harvest of the fruit as if it had fixed four-month intervals, and
yet the harvest he was speaking of was already there. The harvest is of souls of
believers. They are already ripe and ready for harvest, and ready to carry into
the barn,26 through faith into rest, as many as are ready. But not all are ready.
Some are, some will be, others are still being sown.
25. John 4:11.
26. Matthew 13:30.

328. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 319
(33) Matthew 9:37
The harvest is abundant but the field workers are few.
This line refers to those ready for the harvest and for gathering into the barn,
to go through faith into rest, and be prepared for salvation and receiving the
word.
(34) John 4:36
The reaper is taking his wages.
This is said because the savior calls himself a reaper. And the wages of our lord
are the salvation and restoration of those reaped, which means, his rest upon
them. "And gathering the grain for eternal life" means either that what is gath­ered
is the fruit of eternal life or that it is itself eternal life.
(35) John 4:37
So sower and reaper alike may be happy.
The sower is happy because he sows, and because he is already gathering part
of his seeds. Likewise, the reaper is happy because he is reaping. The first
began by sowing, the second by reaping. Both could not begin with the same
task, since sowing is first and reaping afterward. When the sower stops sowing,
the reaper is still reaping. But for the moment both do their own work and
share a common joy when they consider the perfection of the seeds. "One
sows, another reaps." The earthly son27 above the place28 sows.29 The savior,
who is also the earthly son, reaps and sends the angels down as reapers known
through the students,30 each for his own soul.
(36) John 4:38
Others worked and you entered their work.
These seeds were sown neither through nor by them. Those who worked are the
angels of the dispensation, through whom as mediators the seeds were sown
and nourished. The work of sowers and reapers is not the same, for the former
in cold and rain work and dig up the earth and sow, and through the winter
27. Or "human son," "son of man."
28. The place probably refers to the place of god, as a circumlocution for god.
29. See Matthew 13:37.
30. See Matthew 13:39.

329. 320 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
look after it, hoeing and weeding. The latter, who enter a prepared harvest,
reap the harvests with happiness.
(37) John 4:39
And many Samaritans from the city believed in him,
because of what the woman said when she testified.
Out of that town or city, meaning out of the world. Through the woman's re­port,
that is, through the spiritual church. "Many" because there are many psy­chical
people, but the imperishable nature of the election is one and uniform
and unique.
(38) John 4:42
He stayed there two days.
He stayed with them and not in them, and for two days, either to signify the
present aeon and the future one in marriage, or the time before his passion
and that after the passion, which he spent with them. After converting many
more to faith through his own word, he left them.
(39) John 4:42
It is no longer because of your talk that we believe.
This passage should say, "It is no longer only because of your talk."
John 4:42
We ourselves have heard and we know that he is truly
the savior of the world.
At first people are led by others to believe in the savior, but when they read his
words, they no longer believe because of human testimony alone but because
of the truth.
(40) John 4:46-47
There was a certain prince whose son was sick in
Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from
Judea into Galilee, he went to him and asked him to
come down and heal his son, for he was near death.
The prince or royal officer is the demiurge, since he reigned over those under
him. But because his dominion is small and temporary, he is called a prince,
like some petty king set over a small kingdom by a universal king. His son in

330. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 321
Capernaum, in the lower part of the middle area by the sea, refers to what ad­joins
matter. In other words, the man belonging to him was sick not with re­spect
to nature but in his ignorance and sins. "From Judea to Galilee" means
from the Judea above. The phrase "he was near death" refutes the doctrines of
those who say that the soul is immortal. Soul and body are destroyed in
Gehenna.31 The soul is not immortal but only has a disposition to salvation. It
is the perishable that robes itself in imperishability, and the mortal that robes
itself in immortality, when its death was swallowed in victory.32 "Unless you
see signs and wonders you will not believe"33 was correctly spoken to a person
who had the nature to be persuaded through works and through sense per­ception,
not to believe a word. "Descend before my child dies," because the end
of law was death.34 The law kills through sins. Before death finally came into
being in accordance with sins, the father asks the only savior to help the son,
whose nature is to do this. "Go, your son lives,"35 the savior said modestly,
since he didn't say, "Let him live," or show that he himself had given him life.
Having gone down to the sick man and healed him of the disease, that is, of his
sins, and having made him alive through remission, he said, "Your son lives."
"The man believed" because the demiurge can easily believe that the savior is
able to heal even when he is not present. The prince's slaves36 are the angels of
the demiurge, proclaiming, "Your son lives," because he is behaving correctly,
no longer doing what is wrong. Therefore the slaves proclaimed to the prince
the news about his son's salvation, because the angels are the first to observe
the actions of men on earth and to see if they have lived well and sincerely
since the savior's sojourn on earth. "The seventh hour" refers to the nature of
the man healed. "And he believed and along with all his household" refers to
the angelic order and men related to him. It is a question whether some angels,
those who descended upon the daughters of men,37 will be saved. The de­struction
of people by the demiurge is made clear by the sentence "The chil­dren
of the kingdom will go out into the outer darkness."38 About them Isaiah
prophesied, "I produced and raised sons, but they set me aside." He calls them
"alien sons and a wicked and lawless seed and a vineyard producing thorns."39
31. See Matthew 10:28.
32. See 1 Corinthians 15:53-55.
33. John 4:48.
34. See Romans 7:13.
35. John 4:50.
36. John 4:51.
37. See Genesis 6:2.
38. Matthew 8:12.
39. Isaiah 1:2,4; 5:i-

331. 322 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
(41) John 8:21
Where I am going you cannot come.
How have they come to be in imperishability when they remain in ignorance
and disbelief and sins?
(42) John 8:22
Will he kill himself? because he said, "Where I am
going you cannot come."
In their wicked thoughts the Jews said these things and declared themselves
greater than the savior and thought that they would go to god for eternal rest
but the savior would slay himself and go to corruption and death, where they
thought they would not go. The Jews thought the savior said, "When I have
slain myself, I shall go to corruption, where you cannot come."
(43) John 8:37
My word has no place in you.
The word has no place because others are unsuited for it either by substance
or inclination.
(44) John 8:44
You are from your father the devil.
This passage accounts for their inability40 to hear the word of Jesus or to un­derstand
his speech. It means "of the substance of the devil." It makes their
nature evident to them and convicts them in advance. They are neither chil­dren
of Abraham nor children of god, because they do not love Jesus.
(45) John 8:44
You are from your father the devil.
The word was spoken to those who were of the substance of the devil.
(46) John 8.44
And you want to do the desires of your father.
40. The Jews' inability.

332. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 323
The devil has no will. He has desires. These things were spoken not to those
who are by nature children of the devil, the people of the earth, but to the psy­chical
people, who are children of the devil by adoption. Some of them who
are this way by nature can become children of god by adoption. From having
loved the desires of the devil and carrying them out these people become chil­dren
of the devil, though they are not so by nature. The name "children" must
be understood in three ways. First, by nature, second by inclination, third by
merit. "By nature" means what is generated by some generator, which may be
called a child; "by inclination," when one does someone else's will by one's
own inclination and is called the child of the one whose will one does; and "by
merit," in the way that some are called children of Gehenna and of darkness
and of lawlessness,41 and offspring of snakes and vipers,42 for those parents
generate nothing by their own nature. They are ruinous and consume those
who are cast into them. Jesus calls them children of the devil, not because the
devil generates offspring, but because by doing the works of the devil they be­came
like him.
(47) John 8:44
From the beginning he was a murderer,
and he does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him.
When he lies he speaks from himself,
since he is a liar and the father of lies.
His nature is not of the truth but of its opposite, which is error and ignorance.
Therefore one cannot stand in truth nor have truth in oneself. One has lies as
one's own nature, being by nature unable ever to speak truth. Not only is that
person a liar, but so too his father, which is also his nature, since he originated
from error and lies.
(48) John 8:50
There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.
The one who seeks and judges is the one who avenges me, the servant com­missioned
for this, the one who does not bear the sword in vain.43 The judge
41. See Matthew 23:15,33.
42. See Matthew 3:7.
43- See Romans 13:4.

333. 324 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
and punisher is Moses, who is also the legislator. How does he say that all judg­ment
was given to him?44 He speaks correctly, for the judge who does his will
judges as a servant. Such is what happens among people.45
(49) Matthew 3:11
John said,
"I baptize you in water for repentance,
but after me will come one stronger than I,
and I am not fit to carry his sandals.
He will baptize you in the holy spirit and fire."
He baptized no one in fire. However, some understand fire to be in the ears of
those who are sealed in baptism and so have heard the apostolic preaching.
(50) Matthew 10:32-33
Anyone who confesses me46 before others,
I will confess before my father in heaven,
and whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my father in heaven.
One type of confession is made by faith and behavior, another by voice.
The confession by voice also takes place before authorities. The crowds con­sider
this the only confession. They are wrong because hypocrites can also
make this confession. This word will not be found universally, since not all
those who are saved made the confession by voice. Among the exceptions are
Matthew, Philip, Thomas, Levi, and many others. The confession by voice is
not universal but particular. What he mentions here is universal, the one by
works and actions corresponding to faith in him. This confession is followed
by the particular one before authorities, if necessary and reason requires it.
This one also confesses by voice, if that person has previously confessed by
disposition.
And he correctly said "in me" of those who confess, and "me" of those who
deny. For the latter deny him, even if they do not confess by action. The only
ones who confess in him are those who live in confession and action related to
44. See John 5:27.
45. Or, "Such is the role of human beings before God."
46. Literally, "confesses in me."

334. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 325
him. He confesses in them, since he is wrapped up in them and contained by
them. Therefore they never deny him. But those who are not in him deny him.
He did not say, "Whoever will deny in me," but "me." No one who is in him
ever denies him. "Before others" refers to both the saved and the gentiles, and
in like fashion, to their behavior before the former and to their voice before
the latter.

335. 18
The Treatise on
Resurrection
I he question of resurrection was a controversial one within Jewish
1 and Christian circles in the world of antiquity and late antiquity;
,.„JL,.. the issue of the survival of the soul and the possibility of reincar­nation
were discussed extensively by Greek philosophers as well. Resurrection,
reincarnation, and survival after death remain hot points of discussion to the
present day. The Valentinian Treatise on Resurrection offers a spiritual under­standing
of resurrection that picks up ideas from Paul's letters (see 1 Corinthi­ans
15, for example) but parts company with Paul and his followers on several
significant matters. The author of the treatise, rejecting a literal interpretation
of the resurrection in favor of a spiritual understanding, emphasizes that the
spiritual resurrection is no illusion. It is real and it is true, more real and true,
in fact, than the material world. The author cites Paul approvingly as "the mes­senger"
(or apostle), and states with Paul, "We suffered with him [that is, Jesus],
we arose with him, and we went to heaven with him." The author of the Trea­tise
on Resurrection understands that suffering and death actually occur in this
material world, and the author proposes, in contrast to Paul's more apocalyp­tic
view, that resurrection is actually the transcending of the material world
through the liberation of the spirit. Referring to the Valentinian threefold divi­sion
of humanity into the spiritual (or pneumatic), the psychical, and the
fleshly or material (or hylic), author writes, "This is the spiritual resurrection

336. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 327
[or resurrection of the spirit], which swallows up the [resurrection of the] soul
and [the resurrection of] the flesh." So it was with Jesus, so it is with all of us.
Further, the Treatise on Resurrection proclaims that the resurrection is not
reserved for some future time but is a spiritual transition that has already
begun: "already you have the resurrection." Like Hymenaeus and Philetus ac­cording
to 2 Timothy 2:18, the author of this text announces the resurrection
as a present reality and thus adheres to a realized eschatology. With a formu­lation
reminiscent of Hindu and other statements, the Treatise on Resurrec­tion
affirms that one may call the world of matter illusion, but the world of
spirit, and the resurrection of the spirit, is truth.
The Treatise on Resurrection is found in the Nag Hammadi library. It was
composed in Greek by an unknown author who presents the treatise in the
form of a letter to a certain Rheginos. The circumstances of composition are
unknown.
THE TREATISE ON
RESURRECTION'
My son Rheginos,2 some people want to become learned. That is their pur­pose
when they begin to solve unsolved problems. If they succeed, they are
proud. But I do not think they have stood in the word of truth. Rather, they
seek their own rest, which we have received from our savior and our lord, the
Christ. We received rest when we came to know the truth and rested on it.
Since your pleasant question concerns what is the truth about the resur­rection,
I am writing you today to tell you. Many do not believe in it, but a few
find it. So let us see.
HOW GOD BECAME A HUMAN SON
How did the lord proclaim things while he was in flesh and after he had re­vealed
himself to be the son of god? He lived in this world that you live in,
1. The Treatise on Resurrection: Nag Hammadi Codex 1,4, pp. 43,25 to 50,18; translated by Mal­colm
L. Peel (Attridge, ed., Nag Hammadi Codex I,1.123-57,2.137-215; Robinson, ed., Nag
Hammadi Library in English, rev. ed., 54-57), and Bentley Layton (The Gnostic Scriptures,
320-24), revised by Willis Barnstone.
2. The recipient of the letter is known only from this text.

337. 328 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
speaking about the law of nature, which I call death. And more, Rheginos, the
son of god became a human son. He embraced both qualities, possessing hu­manity
and divinity so he could, by being the son of god, conquer death, and,
by being the human son, restore the pleroma.3 At the beginning he was above
as a seed of truth, which was before the cosmos came into being.4 In the cos­mic
structure many dominions and divinities have come into being.
TRUTH AS THE AGENT
I know that I am presenting the problem in difficult words, but there is noth­ing
in the word of truth that is difficult. After the solution appeared,5 to ensure
that nothing be hidden and everything be openly revealed, there are two es­sentials:
the destruction of evil and the revelation of the elect. This solution
entails the emanation of truth and spirit, and of grace bestowed by truth.
THE SAVIOR SWALLOWED DEATH
The savior swallowed death. You must know this. He laid aside the perishable
world and made himself into an imperishable aeon, raised himself up, and
swallowed the visible with the invisible. Thereby he gave us our immortality.
Then, as the messenger Paul6 said of him, "We suffered with him, we rose with
him, and we entered heaven with him."7 Now, since we are seen in this world,
we wear it like a garment. From the savior we radiate beams, and we are held
in his arms until our own sunset, our death in this life. We are drawn to heaven
by him, like beams, by the sun, and nothing holds us down. This is the resur­rection
of the spirit, which swallows up the soul and the flesh.8
3. Or "fullness," here and throughout the text. The restoration of the pleroma is the ultimate
salvation of the light when it returns to the divine fullness, the fundamental act of Valentinian
salvation.
4. Jesus is understood to be both human and divine, but his origin is from the divine realm
above.
5. This is the appearance of the savior.
6. The apostle Paul.
7. See Romans 8:17, Ephesians 2:4-6, Colossians 2:12,3:1-3.
8. The spirit, soul, and flesh represent the Valentinian hierarchy of the pneumatic, psychic,
and hylic. Here the spiritual resurrection consumes, or supersedes, the resurrection of soul
and flesh.

338. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 329
WITH FAITH RISE
If you cannot believe, you cannot be persuaded. My son, these matters belong
to the domain of faith, and not to persuasive argument, in asserting that the
dead will rise. Among the philosophers in the world there may be one who be­lieves.
9 Certainly that philosopher will rise. And let that philosopher here on
earth not believe that he is returning to the self by himself, and because of
faith. We have known the human son, and we believe that he rose from among
the dead. We say of him, "He is the destroyer of death."
The goal as well as its believers is great. And the thinking mind of believ­ers
will not disappear, nor will the mind of those who know. We are chosen
for salvation and redemption, since from the beginning we were predestined
not to fall into the folly of the ignorant. We shall enter into the wisdom of
those who have known the truth. Those who have wakened to the truth can­not
abandon it. The system of the pleroma is strong. A small part of it is what
broke loose to make up the world. What encompasses everything, the realm
of all, did not come into being. It was. So never doubt the resurrection, my
son Rheginos.
FATE OF THE FLESH AND OF THE SPIRIT
If you did not exist in flesh, you took on flesh when you entered the world.
Why is it, then, that you will you not take your flesh with you when you rise
into the aeon? What is better than flesh is what animates.10 What came into
being because of you,1 J is it not yours? Doesn't it exist with you? But while you
are in the world, what are you missing? That is precisely what you have at­tempted
to learn.
After the birth of the body comes old age, and you exist in corruption. But
what you lack is a gain. You will not give up the better part when you leave.
The inferior part suffers, but it finds grace.12 Nothing redeems us from this
9. The author of the text incorporates sentiments critical of philosophers.
10. What animates is the soul.
11. What came into being because of a person is the flesh.
12. The meaning here is uncertain. Perhaps the better, spiritual self finds grace by being liber­ated
from the body. Perhaps the inferior body is favored, either because it lives at all, or because
features of its existence somehow continue on.

339. 33° LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
world, but we are members of the realm of all and are saved.13 We have re­ceived
salvation from start to finish. Let us think in this way, let us compre­hend
in this way.
WHAT IS THE RESURRECTION?
Some ask whether one will be saved immediately, if the body is left behind.
Let no one doubt. The visible parts of the body that are dead will not be
saved. Only the living parts that exist inside will rise. What is the resurrec­tion?
It is the revelation of those who have risen. If you remember reading
in the gospel that Elijah appeared and Moses with him,14 do not suppose that
the resurrection is an illusion. It is no illusion. It is truth. It is more proper to
say that the world is illusion, rather than the resurrection that is because of
our lord the savior, Jesus the Christ.
THE TRUTH OF RESURRECTION
What am I telling you now? The living will die.
How do they live in illusion?
The rich become poor and kings are overthrown.
All changes. The world is an illusion.
Why do I seem to shout?
The resurrection has nothing of this character.
It is truth standing firm. It is revelation of what is,
and the transformation of things,
and a transition into freshness.
Incorruptibility floods over corruption.
Light rivers down upon the darkness, swallowing obscurity.
The pleroma fills the hollow.
These are the symbols and images of resurrection.
They establish its goodness.
13. People, as spiritual beings, are saved as members of the realm of fullness.
14. This reference is to the accounts of the transfiguration in Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, and
Luke 9:28-36.

340. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 331
RESURRECTION IS HERE
O Rheginos, do not lose yourself in details, nor live obeying the flesh for the
sake of harmony. Flee from being scattered and being in bondage, and then
you already have resurrection.15 If you know what in yourself will die,16
though you have lived many years, why not look at yourself and see yourself
risen now? You have the resurrection, yet you go on as if you are to die when it
is only the part destined to die that is moribund. Why do I put up with your
poor training? Everyone finds a way, and there are many ways, to be released
from this element and not to roam aimlessly in error, all with the end of re­covering
what one was at the beginning.
GOOD-BYE
These words I have received from the generosity of my lord, Jesus the Christ. I
have taught you and your brothers and sisters, who are my children, about
them, and have omitted nothing that may strengthen you. If there is anything
among these written words that is obscure, ask and I will explain.
Do not be worried about consulting anyone in your circle who can help.
Many await what I have written to you. I say peace and grace be among them.
I greet you and whoever loves you with the love of family.
15. See 2 Timothy 2:18.
16. This expression recalls the Delphic maxim, "Know yourself," Gospel of Thomas 3, and other
texts.

341. 19
The Prayer of the
Messenger Paul
he Prayer of the Messenger Paul is a lovely prayer, with apparent
Valentinian features. For Valentinians Paul was a special messen­ger,
and they maintained that Paul was the teacher of Theudas and
1HHBBHHMI
r I "f
Theudas the teacher of Valentinos. The prayer opens with a meditation on in­timacy
with god, who is the mind, treasure, fullness, and rest for the one pray­ing:
"My redeemer, redeem me, I am yours. I came from you." The prayer then
requests authority, that the body may be healed, the soul redeemed, and the
mind granted "the fullness of grace." Lastly, the prayer asks for enlightenment
in words that recall Gospel of Thomas 17 and 1 Corinthians 2:6, and it closes
with a doxology and a final amen. The reference in the last section of the
prayer to "the animate god [or the psychical god]," as well as the "eyes of an­gels"
and the "ears of rulers [or archons]," is reminiscent of Valentinian and
other gnostic texts.
The Prayer of the Messenger Paul is also the first text of Nag Hammadi
Codex I, which may well be a Valentinian book. It was copied onto the front
flyleaf of the codex, probably after the scribe had copied the rest of the texts in
that codex. The prayer was composed in Greek, but precisely when, where,
and by whom remains unknown. It is attributed to Paul, pseudonymously, in
the title at the end of the text.

342. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 333
PRAYER OF THE
MESSENGER PAUL1
Grant me your mercy.2
My redeemer, redeem me,
for I am yours.
I came from you.
You are my mind:
give me birth.
You are my treasure:
open for me.
You are my fullness:
accept me.
You are my rest:
give me unlimited perfection.
I pray to you,
you who exist and preexisted,
in the name exalted above every name,3
through Jesus the anointed,
lord of lords,
king of the eternal realms.
Give me your gifts, with no regret,
through the human child,
the spirit,
the advocate of truth.
Give me authority, I beg of you,
give healing for my body, as I beg you,
i. The Prayer of the Messenger Paul: Nag Hammadi Codex I (I,i, pp. i-B, 10), translated from
the Coptic by Marvin Meyer. For an additional example of gnostic prayer, see the Hermetic
Prayer of Thanksgiving; also see the Three Steles of Seth.
2. Two or three lines of the Coptic text are missing at the very beginning of the prayer, and the
first line here is partially restored. The missing line just before may read something like the fol­lowing:
"Fill me with your light."
3. Philippians 2:9.

343. 334 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
through the preacher of the gospel,4
and redeem my enlightened soul forever, and my spirit,
and disclose to my mind the firstborn of the fullness of grace.
Grant what eyes of angels have not seen,
what ears of rulers have not heard,
and what has not arisen in the hearts of people,5
who became angelic,
and after the image of the animate god6
when it was formed in the beginning.
I have the faith of hope.
And bestow upon me
your beloved, chosen, blessed majesty,
you who are the firstborn, the first-conceived,
and the wonderful mystery of your house.
For yours is the power and the glory and the praise and the greatness,
forever and ever.
Amen.
4. Perhaps Paul, or Jesus.
5. Gospel of Thomas 17; 1 Corinthians 2:6.
6. Or, "the psychical god," that is, the creator of this world and people in this world, as de­scribed
in other gnostic texts.

344. 20
Valentinian
Liturgical Readings
he Valentinian Liturgical Readings illustrate a Valentinian gnostic
understanding of the sacraments of anointing (chrism), baptism,
and the eucharist. These readings appear in the Nag Hammadi
library after a Valentinian Exposition, which Elaine Pagels interprets as a cat­echism
for gnostic initiates.1 The instruction provided in the Valentinian
Exposition, though in fragmentary condition, addresses controversial and
disputed issues regarding the father of all and silence, the role of the limit
or boundary for the divine realm, and the actions and motivations of Sophia.
Once the gnostic initiates had been appropriately instructed, we may as­sume,
they would have been able to participate in the rituals of anointing,
baptism, and the eucharist, using the liturgical readings included here. These
emphasize empowerment and enlightenment. In the reading on anointing the
gnostics seek power over evil; in the first reading on baptism they celebrate
their exodus from the world into the eternal realm; in the second reading on
baptism they announce their transition from the physical realm to the spiri­tual
realm. Some of the readings conclude with a doxology and Amen.
i. In Robinson, ed., Nag Hammadi Library in English, 481-82.

345. 336 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
VALENTINIAN
LITURGICAL
READINGS
ON ANOINTING2
It is fitting for you at this time
to send your son Jesus the anointed
and anoint us,
so we can trample on snakes
and the heads of scorpions
and all the power of the devil,3
since he is the shepherd of the seed.
Through him we have known you.
And we glorify you:
Glory be to you,
the father in the son,
the father in the son,
the father in the holy church,
and in the holy angels.
From now on he abides forever
in the perpetuity of the eternal realms,
forever,
until the untraceable eternal realms
of the eternal realms.
Amen.
2. The Valentinian Liturgical Readings: Nag Hammadi Codex XI, pp. 40,1 to 44,37, translated
by John D. Turner in Charles W. Hedrick, ed., Nag Hammadi Codices XI, XII and XIII (Leiden
& New York: E. J. Brill, 1990), pp. 142-51; revised in verse by Willis Barnstone and Marvin
Meyer. Reprinted by permission of Brill Academic Publishers. The selections are in a very frag­mentary
state, and we have arranged the fragments and presented the legible words in such a
way as to allow for an appreciation of something of their poetic quality.
3. Luke 10:19; see also Mark 16:18 (longer ending of Mark); Acts 28:3-6. Snake-handling reli­gions
in the present day also handle serpents.

346. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 337
O N BAPTISM (A)
This is the fullness of the summary of knowledge,
the summary revealed to us
by our lord Jesus the anointed,
the only son.
These are the sure and necessary things,
so that we may walk in them.
They are of the first baptism . ..
The first baptism is the forgiveness of sins . ..
you . . . your sins
a pattern . . . of the anointed,
which is the equal... within him
Jesus
The first baptism is the forgiveness of sins.
It delivers us from them
into those of the right,4
into the incorruptibility that is the Jordan.
But that place is of the world.
So we have been sent out of the world
into the eternal realm.
For the interpretation of John5 is the eternal realm,
while the interpretation of the Jordan
is the descent that is the upward progression,6
our exodus from the world
into the eternal realm.
O N BAPTISM (B)
From the world into the Jordan,
and from the world's blindness into the sight of god,
from the carnal into the spiritual,
4- In Valentinian thought those of the right are psychical people, as opposed to those of the left,
who are material people.
5- John the baptizer.
6. The upward progression is the ascent to the pleroma, or fullness.

347. 338 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
from the physical into the angelic,
from the created into the fullness,
from the world into the eternal realm,
from enslavements into sonship,
from entanglements into one another,
from the desert into our estate,
from the cold into the hot
Thus we were brought from seminal bodies
into bodies with a perfect form.
Indeed, I7 entered by way of example
the remnant for which the anointed rescued us
in the fellowship of his spirit.
And he produced us who are in him,
and from now on the souls will be perfect spirits.
Now what is granted to us by the first baptism
is invisible . . . and is his . . . since . . . he speaks about them.
O N THE EUCHARIST (A)
We thank you
and celebrate the eucharist, father,
remembering your son
Jesus the anointed
come . . . invisible . . . your son . . . his love
to knowledge . . . they do your will
through the name of Jesus the anointed,
and will do your will
now and always.
They are complete
in every spiritual gift
and every purity.
Glory be to you
through your son
and your child Jesus the anointed,
7. "I" may be the person reciting the liturgy.

348. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 339
now and always.
Amen.
ON THE EUCHARIST (B)
The word . . . the holy one is . . . food and drink
son, since you . . . food... to us . . . in the life
he does not boast... that is . . . the church
you are pure . . . you are the lord.
Whenever you die purely,
you will be pure
so as to have him . ..
everyone who will guide him
to food and drink.
Glory be to you forever. Amen.

349. 21
The Secret Book
of James
I he Secret Book (or Apocryphon) of James is a text presented,
I rather like the Letter of Peter to Philip, within the frame of an in-
•JL. troductory letter, as a secret book with sayings of Jesus that his fol­lowers
remembered. According to the text, this is the second such secret book
that James sent. The letter of James is addressed to someone whose name is
preserved imperfectly in the papyrus, with only the final three letters (in Cop­tic,
or Greek) visible: thos. Some scholars have suggested that the name
of the recipient of the letter may be restored to designate Cerinthos, a Christ­ian
teacher who flourished in the early second century and who proclaimed a
christology similar to the view of Jesus in the Secret Book of James.
In the body of the Secret Book of James are sayings of Jesus presented, ex­panded,
and interpreted in the context of questions and comments by the
students of Jesus, particularly James and Peter. The sayings include statements
of good fortune and woe, parables and stories, and discourses on being
"filled," lacking, and suffering. Many of these sayings are unknown elsewhere;
some may contain elements and themes that recall the historical Jesus. Some
of these sayings reflect on themes familiar from gnostic sources: fullness and
deficiency, the life of the spirit, self-knowledge. At one point Jesus says, "This
is also how you can acquire the kingdom of heaven for yourselves. Unless you
acquire it through knowledge, you will not be able to find it." Some of the

350. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 341
sayings seem deliberately obscure and enigmatic as they play with contradic­tions
and paradoxes of the human condition.
The Secret Book of James is a Coptic text in Nag Hammadi Codex I, a
codex that contains several Valentinian texts. This has led some scholars to
consider the Secret Book of James to be a gnostic and perhaps a Valentinian
document. It contains themes that are typical of gnostic texts—knowledge,
self-knowledge, fullness, deficiency, and the like. Further, the discussion of
people being of three parts—body, soul, and spirit—is reminiscent of the
threefold division of elemental stuff and of people in Valentinian thought.
The Secret Book of James was probably written in the first half of the sec­ond
century; portions of the text may well be even older. The text was most
likely composed in Greek, though it claims to have been written in Hebrew.
The place of composition is unknown. The reference to burial "in the sand"
could suggest that the author was writing in Egypt, but the reference may well
be corrupt and in need of emendation (see the notes).
THE SECRET BOOK OF JAMES1
James2 writes to thos.3
Peace be with you from peace,
love from love,
grace from grace,
faith from faith,
life from holy life.4
JAMES'S SECRET BOOKS
You have asked me to send you a secret book revealed to Peter and me by the
master, and I could not turn you down, nor could I speak to you, so I have
1. The Secret Book of James: Nag Hammadi library, Codex 1,2, pp. 1,1 to 16,30, translated by
Marvin Meyer.
2. This is apparently James the just, the brother of Jesus and leader of the church in Jerusalem
(see Gospel of Thomas 12), though here James is also made part of the apostolic circle of the
twelve.
3. The salutation of the letter is in large part restored. Some scholars restore the name of the re­cipient
to read Cerinthos, a well-known early Christian teacher.
4. These lines are partially restored.

351. 342 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
written it in Hebrew5 and have sent it to you, and to you alone. But since you
are a minister of the salvation of the saints, try to be careful not to reveal to
many people this book that the savior did not want to reveal even to all of us,
his twelve students. Nonetheless, those who will be saved through the faith of
this treatise will be blessed.
Ten months ago I sent you another secret book6 that the savior revealed to
me. Think of that book as revealed to me, James. But this one 7
JESUS ADDRESSES PETERAND JAMES
Now, the twelve students were all sitting together, recalling what the savior had
said to each of them, whether in a hidden or an open manner, and organizing
it in books.8 I was writing what is in my book. Look, the savior appeared, after
he had left us, while we were watching for him.
Five hundred fifty days9 after he rose from the dead, we said to him, "Did
you depart and leave us?"
Jesus said, "No, but I shall return to the place from which I came. If you
want to come with me, come."
They all answered and said, "If you order us, we shall come."
He said, "I tell you the truth, no one will ever enter the kingdom of heaven
because I ordered it, but rather because you yourselves are filled. Leave James
and Peter to me that I may fill them."
When he called the two of them, he took them aside and commanded the
rest to keep doing what they were doing.
The savior said, "You have been treated kindly,
5. The Coptic here includes hebraiois (from Greek, with the Greek case ending remaining). No
such Hebrew text is known.
6. No additional secret book of James has been identified.
7. Several lines cannot be readily restored. One attempt is made by Dankwart Kirchner, "The
Apocryphon of James," in Schneemelcher, ed., New Testament Apocrypha, 1.291: "[Regarding]
this one, however, since I have not yet fully comprehended it, and since it was revealed for you
as well, and for those who belong to you, exert yourself, and search after its doctrine. In this
way you will attain salvation. After all this you shall reveal it as well."
8. The openings of the Gospel of Thomas and the Book of Thomas also contain comments on
composing books with hidden sayings.
9. Other texts, including gnostic texts, suggest similarly long periods of time for appearances of
Jesus, for example eighteen months (540 days), or 545 days (eighteen months plus five inter­calary
days?), or even twelve years. On eighteen days or months, see "Be Eager for the Word,"
below in the Secret Book of James.

352. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 343
. . . have not understood.10
Do you not want to be filled?
Your hearts are drunk.
Do you not want to be sober?
You ought to be ashamed.
"From now on, awake or asleep, remember that you have seen the human
son11 and have spoken with him and have listened to him.
"Shame on those who have seen the human son.
"Blessings will be on you who have not seen him, or associated with him,
or spoken with him, or listened to anything from him. Yours is life.12
"Understand that he healed you when you were sick, that you might reign.
"Shame on those who have found relief from their sickness, for they will
relapse into sickness.
"Blessings on you who have not been sick, and have known relief before
getting sick. The kingdom of god is yours.
"So I tell you: Be filled and leave no space in you empty, or he who is com­ing
will mock you."
BEING FILLED AND LACKING
Then Peter answered, "Look, three times you have told us, 'Be filled,' but we are
filled."
The savior answered and said, "For this reason I have told you, 'Be filled,'
that you may not lack. Those who lack will not be saved. To be filled is good
and to lack is bad. Yet since it is also good for you to lack but bad for you to be
filled, whoever is filled also lacks. One who lacks is not filled in the way an­other
who lacks is filled, but whoever is filled is brought to an appropriate end.
So you should lack when you can fill yourselves and be filled when you lack,
10. Several lines cannot be restored with confidence. A tentative attempt is made by Dankwart
Kirchner, "The Apocryphon of James," in Schneemelcher, ed., New Testament Apocrypha, 1.297:
"You have been treated kindly through the father, that you may receive my words. If the rest of
the students as well have written my words in their books as if they had understood, beware!
For they have exerted themselves without understanding. They have heard just like fools, and
just like the deaf they have not understood.
11. Or "earthly son," "son of man."
12. On being blessed but not seeing, see "Know Yourself," later in the Secret Book of James, and
John 20:29.

353. 344 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
that you may be able to fill yourselves more. Be filled with spirit but lack in
reason, for reason is of the soul. It is soul."13
BELIEVE IN MY CROSS
I answered and said to him, "Master, we can obey you if you wish, for we have
forsaken our fathers and our mothers and our villages, and followed you. Give
us the means not to be tempted by the evil devil."
The master answered and said, "What good is it to you if you do the father's
will but you are not given your part of his bounty when you are tempted by
Satan? But if you are oppressed by Satan and persecuted and do the father's
will, I say he will love you, make you my equal, and consider you beloved
through his forethought,14 and by your own choice. Won't you stop loving the
flesh and fearing suffering? Don't you know that you have not yet been
abused, unjustly accused, locked up in prison, unlawfully condemned, cruci­fied
without reason,15 or buried in the sand16 as I myself was by the evil one?
Do you dare to spare the flesh, O you for whom the spirit is a wall surround­ing
you? If you consider how long the world has existed before you and how
long it will exist after you, you will see that your life is but a day and your suf­ferings
an hour. The good will not enter the world. Disdain death, then, and
care about life. Remember my cross and my death, and you will live."
I answered and said to him, "Master, do not mention to us the cross and
death, for they are far from you."
The master answered and said, "I tell you the truth, none will be saved un­less
they believe in my cross, for the kingdom of god belongs to those who
have believed in my cross. Be seekers of death, then, like the dead who seek
life, for what they seek becomes apparent to them. And what is there to cause
them concern? As for you, when you search out death, it will teach you about
being chosen. I tell you the truth: No one afraid of death will be saved, for the
13. The beginning of this paragraph incorporates minor restorations, and the entirety of this
paragraph is difficult to translate. A significant distinction is made between the spirit (pneuma)
and the soul (psyche), as in Valentinian texts.
14. Pronoia (from Greek), as in the Secret Book of John and other texts.
15. The text is emended here. The manuscript reads "with reason."
16. Burial in the sand is characteristic of Egypt. Some scholars would emend the text to read "in
shame."

354. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 345
kingdom of death17 belongs to those who are put to death.18 Become better
than I. Be like the child of the holy spirit."19
BE EAGER FORTHE WORD
Then I asked him, "Master, can we prophesy to those who ask us to prophesy
to them? There are many who bring a request to us and look to us to hear our
pronouncement."
The master answered and said, "Do you not know that the head of
prophecy was cut off with John?"20
But I said, "Master, is it not impossible to remove the head of prophecy?"
The master said to me, "When you realize what 'head' means, and that
prophecy comes from the head, then understand the meaning of'its head was
removed.'
"First I spoke with you in parables, and you did not understand. Now I am
speaking with you openly, and you do not grasp it. Nevertheless, you were for
me a parable among parables and a disclosure among things revealed.
"Be eager to be saved without being urged. Rather, be fervent on your own
and, if possible, outdo even me, for this is how the father will love you.
"Come to hate hypocrisy and evil intention. Intention produces hypocrisy,
and hypocrisy is far from truth.
"Do not let the kingdom of heaven wither away. It is like a palm shoot
whose dates dropped around it. It produced buds, and after they grew, its
productivity dried up. This is also what happened with fruit that came from
this single root. After it was harvested, fruit was obtained by many. It certainly
was good. Is it not possible to produce the new growth now, and for you to
find it?21
"Since I was glorified like this once before, why do you hold me back when
I am eager to go? After my labor22 you have made me stay with you another
17. Or possibly emend to read "the kingdom of god," reading noute instead of mou.
18. Or "who put themselves to death," as with people coming forward voluntarily for martyrdom.
19. The child of god, where the holy spirit may be understood to be god the mother. See Gospel
of Thomas 101; also the Gospel of Philip.
20. John the baptizer; see Gospel of Thomas 46.
21. This parable of the date palm shoot remains difficult to translate, and the translation given
here is somewhat tentative. The reference to "it" in the last sentence must be a reference to the
kingdom.
22. Or "suffering."

355. 346 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
eighteen days23 because of the parables. For some people it was enough to lis­ten
to the teaching and understand 'The Shepherds,' 'The Seed,' 'The Building,'
'The Lamps of the Young Women,' 'The Wage of the Workers,' and 'The Silver
Coins and the Woman.'24
"Be eager for the word. The first aspect of the word is faith, the second is
love, the third is works, and from these comes life.
"The word is like a grain of wheat. When someone sowed it, he had faith in
it, and when it sprouted, he loved it, because he saw many grains instead of
just one. And after he worked, he was saved because he prepared it as food and
he still kept some out to sow.
"This is also how you can acquire the kingdom of heaven for yourselves.
Unless you acquire it through knowledge,25 you will not be able to find it."
UNDERSTAND THE LIGHT
"So I say to you, be sober. Do not go astray. And often have I said to you all
together, and also to you alone, James, be saved. I have commanded you to
follow me, and I have taught you how to speak before the rulers.
"See that I have come down and have spoken and have exerted myself and
have won my crown when I saved you. I came down to live with you, so you
might also live with me. And when I found that your houses had no roofs, I
lived in houses that could receive me when I came down.
"Trust me, my brothers. Understand what the great light is. The father does
not need me. A father does not need a son, but it is the son who needs the fa­ther.
To him I am going, for the father of the son is not in need of you.
"Listen to the word, understand knowledge, love life, and no one will per­secute
you and no one will oppress you other than you yourselves."
SHAME ON YOU, BLESSINGS ON YOU
"You wretches! You losers! You pretenders to truth! You falsifiers of knowl­edge!
You sinners against the spirit! Do you still dare to listen when from the
beginning you should have been speaking? Do you still dare to sleep when
23. Or perhaps emend to read "eighteen months" (see note 9 above).
24. These are titles of or references to parables.
25. Gnosis, here and below.

356. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 347
from the beginning you should have been awake so that the kingdom of
heaven might receive you? I tell you the truth, it is easier for a holy person to
sink into defilement, and for an enlightened person to sink into darkness, than
for you to reign—or not to reign.26
"I remember your tears, your mourning, and your grief. They are far from
us. You who are outside the father's inheritance, weep when you should,
mourn, and preach what is good. As is proper, the son is ascending.
"I tell you the truth, if I had been sent to those who would listen to me and
had spoken with them, I would never have come down to earth. Now be
ashamed.
"Look, I shall be leaving you and go away. I do not want to stay with you
any longer just as you yourselves have not wanted this. Follow me quickly. I
tell you, for you I came down. You are loved ones. You will bring life to many
people. Invoke the father, pray to god frequently, and he will be generous
with you.
"Blessings on one who has seen you with him when he is proclaimed
among the angels and glorified among the saints. Yours is life. Rejoice and be
glad as children of god. Observe his will that you may be saved. Accept correc­tion
from me and save yourselves. I am mediating for you with the father, and
he will forgive you many things."
FEW FIND THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
When we heard this, we were delighted. We had become gloomy because of
what we27 said earlier. But when he saw us happy, he said,
"Shame on you who are in need of an advocate.
"Shame on you who stand in need of grace.
"Blessings will be on those who have spoken out and acquired grace for
themselves.
"Compare yourselves to foreigners. How are they viewed in your city? Why
are you anxious to banish yourselves on your own and distance yourselves
from your city? Why abandon your dwelling on your own and make it avail­able
for those who want to live in it? O you exiles and runaways, shame on you.
You will be captured.
26. Literally, "or not to do so."
27. Perhaps emend to read "he."

357. 348 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
"Or maybe you think that the father is a lover of people, or that he is won
over by prayers, or that he is gracious to one because of another, or that he tol­erates
whoever is seeking?
"He28 knows about desire and what the flesh needs. Does it not desire the
soul? The body does not sin apart from the soul just as the soul is not saved
apart from the spirit. But if the soul is saved from evil and the spirit too is
saved, the body becomes sinless. The spirit animates the soul but the body kills
it. The soul kills itself.29
"I tell you the truth, he will never forgive the sin of the soul or the guilt of
the flesh, for none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved. Do you
think that many have found the kingdom of heaven?
"Blessings on one who has seen oneself as a fourth one in heaven."30
KNOW YOURSELVES
When we heard this, we became sad. But when he saw that we were sad, he
said, "I say this to you that you may know yourselves.31
"The kingdom of heaven is like a head of grain that sprouted in a field. And
when it was ripe, it scattered its seed, and again it filled the field with heads of
grain for another year. So with you, be eager to harvest for yourselves a head
of the grain of life that you may be filled with the kingdom.
"And as long as I am with you, pay attention to me and trust in me, but
when I am far from you, remember me. And remember me because I was with
you and you did not know me.
"Blessings will be on those who have known me.
"Shame on those who have heard and have not believed.
"Blessings will be on those who have not seen but yet have believed.
"And once again I appeal to you. I am disclosed to you as I am building a
house useful to you when you find shelter in it, and it will support32 your
neighbors' house when theirs threatens to collapse.
28. That is, "the father."
29. In this paragraph it is assumed that a person is composed of a body of flesh, an animating
soul, and a vivifying spirit, as in Valentinian sources. To indulge the flesh and the soul is to
court death, but to live a life of spirit is to realize life for the whole person.
30. This may be a way of stating that few are saved, and it may be an indication of one who is
alone with god the father, mother, and child.
31. "Know yourself" was a maxim from the oracular center dedicated to Apollo at Delphi,
Greece. See also Gospel of Thomas 3.
32. Or "stand alongside."

358. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 349
"I tell you the truth, shame on those for whom I was sent down here.
"Blessings will be on those who are going up to the father.
"Again I warn you, you who are. Be like those who are not, that you may be
with those who are not.33
"Do not let the kingdom of heaven become a desert within you. Do not be
proud because of the light that enlightens. Rather, act toward yourselves as I
myself have toward you. I have put myself under a curse for you to save you."
THE LAST WORD
Peter responded to these comments and said, "Sometimes you urge us on to­ward
the kingdom of heaven, but at other times you turn us away, master.
Sometimes you encourage us, draw us toward faith, and promise us life, but at
other times you drive us away from the kingdom of heaven."
The master answered and said to us, "I have offered you faith many times—
and have revealed myself to you, James—and you have not known me. Now I
see you often rejoicing. And although you are delighted about the promise of
life, you are sad and gloomy when you are taught about the kingdom.
"Nevertheless, you, through faith and knowledge, have received life. So dis­regard
rejection when you hear it, but when you hear about the promise, be
joyful all the more.
"I tell you the truth, whoever will receive life and believe in the kingdom
will never leave it, not even if the father wants to banish him.
"This is all I shall tell you at this time. Now I shall ascend to the place from
which I have come. When I was eager to go, you have driven me off, and in­stead
of accompanying me, you have chased me away.
"Be attentive to the glory that awaits me, and when you have opened your
hearts, listen to the hymns that await me up in heaven. Today I must take my
place at the right hand of my father.
"I have spoken my last word to you; I shall depart from you, for a chariot
of spirit34 has carried me up, and from now on I shall strip that I may be
clothed.35
33- On existing and not existing, see the opening portion of the Secret Book of John, the Three
Steles of Seth, and the Vision of the Foreigner.
34- On Jesus riding a chariot into heaven, see the accounts of Elijah and Enoch traveling into
heaven in 2 Kings 2 and 1 Enoch 70, as well as various figures ascending to heaven in chariots
on Roman commemorative coins.
35- Stripping and clothing refers to shedding the flesh as a garment and sometimes, as here,
putting on a new and glorious heavenly garment.

359. 350 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
"Pay attention: Blessings on those who have proclaimed the son before he
came down, so that, when I did come, I might ascend.
"Blessings three times over on those who were proclaimed by the son be­fore
they came into being, so that you might share with them."
THE MESSENGERS DISPERSE
When he said this, he left. We knelt down, Peter and I, and gave thanks and
sent our hearts up to heaven. We heard with our ears and saw with our eyes the
noise of wars, a trumpet blast, and great turmoil.36
When we passed beyond that place, we sent our minds up further. We saw
with our eyes and heard with our ears hymns, angelic praises and angelic re­joicing.
Heavenly majesties were singing hymns, and we rejoiced too.
Again after this we wished to send our spirits up to the majesty. When we
ascended, we were not allowed to see or hear anything. The other students
called to us and asked us, "What did you hear from the teacher? What did he
tell you? Where did he go?"
We answered them, "He ascended. He gave us his right hand, and promised
all of us life. He showed us children coming after us, having commanded us to
love them, since we are to be saved for their sakes."
When they heard this, they believed the revelation, but they were angry
about those who would be born. Not wishing to give them reason to take
offense, I sent each of them to a different location. I myself went up to
Jerusalem, praying that I might acquire a share with the loved ones who are
to come.37
I pray that the beginning may come from you.38 This is how I can be saved.
They will be enlightened through me, by my faith, and through another's that
is better than mine. I wish mine to be the lesser.
Do your best to be like them, and pray that you may acquire a share with
them. Beyond what I have said, the savior did not disclose any revelation to us
on their behalf. We proclaim a share with those for whom the message was
proclaimed, those whom the lord has made his children.
36. Apocalyptic images accompany the spiritual ascent to heaven.
37. This paragraph describes the dispersal of the messengers (or apostles) to spread the message
of Jesus throughout the world. A similar scene occurs at the conclusion of the Letter of Peter to
Philip. James is based in Jerusalem, as the leader of the church there. The "loved ones who are
to come" are future believers, like the very people reading the Secret Book of James. They are
the children coming after James and Peter, and it is for their sakes that the revelation is given.
38. The "you" to whom the book is addressed," thos," possibly Cerinthos.

360. 22
The Round Dance
of the Cross
T
• mbedded in the Acts of John is a famous song, with instructions for
I liturgical dance to accompany the hymn, here called the Round Dance
_JL. of the Cross. This hymn has long attracted the attention of a variety of
creative people. The novelist Marguerite Yourcenar wrote about it in L'oeuvre
au noir (translated as The Abyss), the composer Gustav Hoist set it to music as
The Hymn of Jesus, and the film director Luis Bunuel incorporated a version of
it in his film La vote lactee (The Milky Way). The Round Dance of the Cross is
followed in the Acts of John by the Revelation of the Mystery of the Cross (not
translated here). Both have a distinctive character and a gnostic—even a
Valentinian—flavor.
The Round Dance of the Cross employs themes familiar from the tradition
of John and the Gospel of John (for example, Jesus is the word of god who re­counts
the mystery of suffering) within a hymn that is performed by Jesus and
his followers. The hymn illustrates features familiar from gnostic texts; some
scholars believe it may constitute a gnostic ritual in song and dance. The
verses sung by Jesus the leader include self-declarations, some of which recall
the riddlelike and paradoxical declarations of Thunder. The chorus of follow­ers
responds to the leader's verses antiphonally by singing "Amen" and dance
in a circle around him. Jesus' assertion that he will both save and be saved par­allels
the roles of god and the revealer in other gnostic texts in which god and

361. 352 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
the savior give and receive salvation. Echoes of Valentinian thought may be
heard in references to grace, word, the realm of eight, wisdom, and knowledge.
The textual history of the Acts of John is complex, but it is commonly as­sumed
by scholars that the Acts of John was composed in the second half of
the second century, or maybe, some would say, a little later. It was likely com­posed,
at least in large part, in Greek, though some portions may derive from
Syriac. Syria is the probable place of composition.
THE ROUND DANCE
OF THE CROSS1
Jesus told us to form a circle and hold each other's hands, and he himself stood
in the middle, and said, "Respond to me with Amen.'"2
THE SONG
So he began by singing a hymn and declaring,
"Glory to you, father."
And we circled around him and responded to him,
"Amen."
"Glory to you, word. Glory to you, grace."
"Amen."
"Glory to you, spirit. Glory to you, holy one. Glory to your glory."
"Amen."
"We praise you, father. We give thanks to you, light, in whom no
darkness is."
"Amen."
"Why we give thanks, I declare:
I will be saved and I will save."
"Amen."
i. The Round Dance of the Cross: translated from the Greek by Marvin Meyer.
2. The Round Dance of the Cross is said to have been taught by Jesus to his students just before
his crucifixion. The paragraph that precedes this opening in the Acts of John explains the sug­gested
circumstances for the Round Dance of the Cross in strongly polemical terms, referring
to "lawless Jews" inspired by the serpent.

362. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 353
"I will be released and I will release."
"Amen."
"I will be wounded and I will wound."
"Amen."
"I will be born and I will bear."
"Amen."
"I will eat and I will be eaten."
"Amen."
"I will hear and I will be heard."
"Amen."
"I will be kept in mind, being all mind."
"Amen."
"I will be washed and I will wash."
"Amen."
GRACE DANCES3
"I will play the flute. Dance, everyone."
"Amen."
"I will mourn. Lament, everyone."
"Amen."
"A realm of eight4 sings with us."
"Amen."
"The twelfth number5 dances on high."
"Amen."
"The whole universe takes part in dancing."
"Amen."
"Whoever does not dance does not know what happens."
"Amen."
"I will flee and I will stay."
"Amen."
3. Instructions for liturgical dance, included in the text.
4. This may refer to the realm of eight (ogdoad) in Valentinian thought. The realm of eight re­calls
the seven planetary spheres, plus the eighth sphere (of the stars) beyond these cosmic
powers. The eighth sphere is sometimes thought to be the abode of the ruler of the cosmos and
at other times is considered a higher level for spiritual advancement and perfection. See the Se­cret
Book of John and the Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth.
5. The twelfth number recalls the twelve signs of the zodiac.

363. 354 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
"I will adorn and I will be adorned."
"Amen."
"I will be united and I will unite."
"Amen."
"I have no house and I have houses."
"Amen."
"I have no place and I have places."
"Amen."
"I have no temple and I have temples."
"Amen."
"I am a lamp to you who see me."
"Amen."
"I am a mirror to you who perceive me."
"Amen."
"I am a door to you who knock on me."
"Amen."
"I am a way to you, you passerby."6
"Amen."
UNDERSTANDING THE SONG
"If you respond to my dance, see yourself in me as I speak, and if you have seen
what I do, keep silent about my mysteries. You who dance, understand what I
do, for yours is this human passion I am to suffer. You could by no means have
comprehended what you suffer unless I had been sent as the word to you by
the father. You who have seen what I suffer have seen me as suffering, and
when you have seen it, you have not stood firm but were completely moved.
You were moved to become wise, and you have me for support. Rest in me.
Who I am you will know when I depart. What now I am seen to be I am not.
You will see when you come. If you knew how to suffer, you would have been
able not to suffer. Learn about suffering, and you will be able not to suffer.
What you do not know I myself shall teach you. I am your god, not the trai­tor's.
I want holy souls to be in harmony with me. Know the word of wisdom.
Say again with me,
6. See Gospel of Thomas 42.

364. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 355
Glory to you, father.
Glory to you, word.
Glory to you, spirit.
Amen.
"If you want to know what I was, once I mocked everything with the word,
and I was not put to shame7 at all. I leaped. But understand everything, and
when you have understood, declare,
Glory to you, father.
Amen.
7. Or, "mocked."

366. Thomas and Other Syrian Literature
23
The Songs of
Solomon
I he Songs of Solomon (or Odes of Solomon) is one of the great
I wisdom poetry anthologies of antiquity. No more lyrically power-
JL. ful and imaginative collection of poems exists in ancient religions.
Their eclectic outsider's vision, the outrageously imaginative symbolism, the
conversation with the soul and the divine, the passionate embrace of love, and
the separation, search, and encounter with deity—all of these aspects make it
a major volume of religious poetry: a book of light, knowledge, and the en­lightened
voice.
Until 1909 only five odes from this very important hymnbook were
known. They appeared in the Pistis Sophia, a gnostic text preserved in Cop­tic.
Then, in 1909, the archaeologist and Syriac scholar J. Rendel Harris dis­covered
a four-hundred-year-old Syriac text of the collection. The original
language of the songs was probably Greek, although some scholars argue for
a Syriac original. Harris conjectured a Jewish-Christian origin from the first
century CE. Others suggest a Jewish original with a Christian redaction. Wal­ter
Bauer offers a third possibility, that the songs constitute a second-century
gnostic hymnbook.
Scholars disagree over how gnostic the Songs of Solomon really are. Many
scholars, from Harris and Gunkel to Bultmann, Jonas, Grant, and Rudolph,
take the songs to be gnostic, but others, such as Charlesworth, Chadwick,
Burkitt, Braun, and Worrell, do not see them as fully gnostic. In his book The

367. 358 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Odes of Solomon, James Charlesworth argues that these songs are not gnostic
but a mystical Jewish-Christian hymnbook, "a tributary to Gnosticism which
flows from Jewish apocalyptic mysticism."l Whatever the origin and degree of
gnosticism, in their present form it is clear that the Songs of Solomon are
based on Jewish sacred song tradition as exemplified in the Psalms and Song
of Songs, that many of them have been subjected to a Christian overlay, and
that their gnostic references are more significant than their mere inclusion in
the Pistis Sophia. Harris also points out many quotations of the songs in the
works of the early fathers of the church.
The songs were of particular interest because of their christology, that is,
the use of Christ as a speaker in the songs, and for their deep dependence on
the Gospel of John, which is typical of many gnostic texts. Frequently, the
structure of a song consists of a prologue on the part of the singer, then an
oracular statement ex ore Christi, and finally a doxology in which the congre­gation
is to participate.2 In his study of the Songs of Solomon, Gerald Blasz-cak
notes that they are composed largely in the first person singular as
"individual confession songs."3
Many of these songs are hauntingly beautiful. The images soar. The diction
is rich with surprising references, such as "milk from the lord," which apolo­gists,
dismayed by the female imagery for the divine, explain away as odd sym­bolism.
Here are songs as poetic, profound, and astonishing as the most
compelling songs and psalms of the Hebrew Bible. So we read: "The dew of
the lord rinsed me with silence and a cloud of peace rose over my head" (Song
35); or, with typical chariot imagery of Jewish mysticism: "I went up to the
light of truth as into a chariot and truth took me across canyons and ravines"
(Song 38). The beautiful imagery encompasses Christian vocabulary as well:
"My heart was cloven and there appeared a flower, and grace sprang up" (Song
11). The thought of all three prevailing traditions, Jewish, Christian, and gnos­tic,
is suggested in Song 7: "The father of knowledge is the word of knowledge.
He who created wisdom is wiser than his works "
1. Charlesworth, Odes of Solomon, p. 190.
2. Each song ends with "hallelujah," a stock response by the listener or congregation and proba­bly
a scribal addition. The tag is here omitted as unnecessary and distracting from the content
and beauty of the poem.
3. Blaszczak, A Formcritical Study of Selected Odes of Solomon, p. 76.

368. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 359
SONGS OF SOLOMON4
Songi
You the lord are mingled in my hair like a crown,
and I shall never be without you.
This crown of truth was woven for me
and makes your branches blossom in me.
The crown is not dry and sterile.
You live and blossom across my head.
Your fruit is full, perfect, and mingled with salvation.
Song35
I clothe his limbs and hang from them;
I hang from his limbs. He loves me.
How would I know how to love the lord
if he didn't love me?
And who can tell us about love?
Only one who is loved knows.
I love the beloved and my soul loves him,
and I am where he reposes
and will be no stranger, for he is not petty.
He is my high merciful lord.
I have gone to merge in him.
The lover has found his beloved,
and to love the son I become the son.
Who joins the eternal? The eternal,
and who delights in the living one lives.
Such is the lord's spirit.
It doesn't lie. It teaches us ways. Be wise,
understand, and keep your eyes open.
4. The Songs of Solomon; translated by Willis Barnstone.
5. Song 2 is missing.

369. 360 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Song 4
0 my god, no one can seize your holy place
nor alter it, for no one has such power.
You designed your sanctuary before you drew the world.
What is older will not be undone by the younger.
You gave your heart to your believers, O lord,
and will not stumble or be fruitless.
One hour of your faith is more precious than all days and years.
Who can feel pain by wearing your grace?
Your seal is known. Creatures know it.
Archangels are robed in it.
You gave your fellowship. Not you, but we, were in need.
Distill your dews upon us.
Open your rich fountains and let milk and honey pour out.
You hold back nothing that you promise
and know the ends and give freely
so you might withdraw and give us again.
You know all, god, and from the beginning fix order.
And you, O lord, make all things.
Song 5
1 thank you, O lord, because I love you.
O highest one, do not abandon me,
for you are my hope.
Your grace I have received freely and live on it.
My persecutors will come, but let them not see me.
Let a cloud of darkness fall on their eyes
and thick gloom darken them.
Let light be gone and I be invisible
so they will not come to seize me.
Let their counsel be thick darkness
and their cunning turn on their own heads,
for their counsel is sham.
The lord is my hope; I will not fear.
He is a garland on my head. I will not move into sorrows.

370. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Should everything tremble, I will stand firm.
If all visible things perish, I will not die,
for the lord is with me and I am with him.
Song 6
As a hand moves over a harp and strings speak,
so the spirit of the lord speaks in my members
and I speak through his love,
for he destroys what is foreign and bitter.
So he was from the beginning and so he will contend to the end.
No one can remain his adversary or resist him.
The lord multiplies his knowledge.
He is zealous to inform us, and he gives through grace.
Through his name we apprehend praise,
and our spirits praise his holy spirit.
A stream erupts into a wide and endless river
that floods and, breaking, carries away the temple.
Ordinary men, and even those whose art is to stem
rough waters, cannot hold it back,
and the river covers the face of the whole earth.
The river fills everything,
and the thirsty of the earth drink and satisfy thirst.
The drink comes from the highest one.
Blessings on the ministers of that drink,
who guard his waters that assuage dry lips and raise the fainted.
Souls about to depart, his waters rescue from death
and straighten crooked limbs.
They strengthen our feebleness and feed our eyes with light.
Those who know the river of the lord live through it forever.
Song 7
As anger moves over evil, so joy moves over the beloved
and floods us with her fruit.
My joy is the lord, and I move toward him.

371. 362 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
The way is excellent. My helper is the lord,
who in candor lets me know him intimately.
His kindness has humbled his magnitude.
He became like me so I might receive him.
He thought like me so I could become him,
and I do not tremble when I look at him,
for he is gracious to me.
He assumed my nature so I could learn from him.
He assumed my form so I would not turn away.
The father of knowledge is learning's word.
He who created wisdom is wiser than his works.
He who created me knew how to attend me
when I came into being.
From his abundant grace he has found mercy for me
and lets me request and receive his sacrifice.
He is incorruptible,
the perfection of the worlds, and our father.
He lets himself be seen in his works
and be recognized as their creator,
and none will think his works are self-made.
Over what he has done, from the beginning
and to the end, is the gaze of his light.
He was resting in his son and found pleasure in his son,
and through his salvation the lord possessed all things.
The highest one will be known in his saints,
sung in songs of the coming of the lord
and those who sing may go forth to meet him
and find him with joy and a harp of many tunes.
Seers will go before him and be seen
and praise the lord for his love. He is near and sees.
Hatred will leave the earth, jealousies drown,
and ignorance be eroded,
for knowledge of the lord has come.
Let singers sing the grace of the high lord.
Let them sing. Let their hearts be like day,
their harmonies like the lord's excellent beauty.

372. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Let there be nothing without his life,
his knowledge, or his speech.
The lord has given tongue to his creation.
He opens the lips of our mouth to praise him.
Confess his powers and release his grace.
Song 8
Open your hearts to the exultation of the lord,
and float your love from your heart to your lips in a holy life.
Carry fruit to the lord.
Talk and look into his light.
You who sank low, stand up and hold your shoulders erect.
You who were silent, speak.
Your mouth has been opened.
You were despised. Now feel uplifted.
Your goodness is high.
The lord's right hand is with you,
and he will help you,
and before wars rage through the lands,
for you he prepares peace.
RESPONSE
Hear the word of truth and drink the knowledge
that I offer from my station.
Your flesh cannot know what I say to you,
nor your robes what I show you.
Keep my mystery. It harbors you.
Keep my faith. It harbors you.
Know my knowledge, you who know me in truth.
Love me gently, you who love.
I do not turn my face from my own.
I know them. Before they were, I knew them
and set my seal on their faces.
I fashioned their limbs and prepared my breasts for them,
for them to drink my holy milk and live on it.
I took pleasure in them and see no shame in them.

373. 364 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Through my handiwork they are and feel
the enormity of my thought.
Who can stand against my handiwork?
Who is not its subject?
I willed and fashioned my mind and heart;
they are mine, and with my own hand I created them.
My goodness goes before them, and they will not lack my name.
I am with them.
RESPONSE 2
Pray and grow, survive in the love of the lord.
You are loved in the loved one.
You survive in him who lives.
You are saved in him who was saved.
In all ages you will be found incorruptible
through the name of your father.
Song 9
Open your ears and I shall speak to you.
Give me your soul that I may give you mine.
Here is the lord's word and his desires,
and his holy thought about the messiah.
In the will of the lord is your life.
His purpose is your eternal life.
Your perfection is incorruptible.
Be rich in god the father
and receive the purpose of the high one.
In his grace be strong and redeemed.
I tell you, and the holy ones will know peace,
and if you hear you will not fall into war.
Who knows him will not perish.
Who receives him will not be confused.
His eternal crown is truth,
and those who wear it on their heads are blessed.
It is made of precious stones,
and wars were fought over the crown,

374. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
which goodness seized and gave to you.
Wear the crown in a covenant with the lord.
All who have conquered will be inscribed in his book.
Their book is a triumph and is yours.
Victory sees you foremost and wills you saved.
Song 10
The lord has changed my mouth by his word
and opened my heart by his light.
He causes his eternal life to inhabit me
and lets me speak the fruit of his peace
to convert souls who would come to him,
and he leads captives into freedom.
RESPONSE
I took courage, rose strong, and captured the world,
yet my captivity lies in the high one's glory
and lies in god my father.
The gentiles who were scattered abroad are gathered together,
and I am not polluted by my love for them.
They praise me in high holy places,
and seas of light enter their heart as they become forever my people.
Song 11
My heart was cloven and there appeared a flower,
and grace sprang up
and fruit from the lord,
for the highest one split me with his holy spirit,
exposed my love for him
and filled me with his love.
His splitting of my heart was my salvation,
and I followed the way of his peace,
the way of truth.
From the beginning to the end
I received his knowledge
and sat on the rock of truth where he placed me.

375. 366 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Speaking waters came near my lip
from the vast fountain of the lord,
and I drank
and was drunk with the living waters
that never die,
and my drunkenness gave me knowledge.
I threw off vanity and turned to my god,
and his bounty made me rich.
I threw off the madness of the earth;
I stripped that madness from me
and cast it away,
and the lord renewed me
in his raiment
and held me in his light.
From above he gave me uncorrupt ease,
and I was like land deep and happy in its orchards,
and the lord was sun on the face of the land.
My eyes were clear,
dew was on my face,
and my nostrils enjoyed the aroma of the lord.
He took me to paradise,
where I knew joy
and worshiped his glory.
Blessings on those who are planted in your land, in paradise,
who grow in the growth of your trees
and change from gloom into light.
Your servants are lovely.
They do good;
they abjure evil and turn to your pleasantness.
They are free of the bitterness of trees
ancient in their land. You are everywhere,
always before your servants.
There is much space in paradise
but no wasteland. All is fruit.
Glory, lord, and eternal joy in paradise.

376. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Song 12
He filled me with words of truth that I may speak the same.
Like flows of waters, truth flows from my mouth,
and my lips reveal its harvest.
It gives me the gold of knowledge,
for the mouth of the lord is the true word
and the door of his light.
The highest one gave the words to his worlds,
which interpret his beauty,
recite his praise, confess his thought
as heralds of his mind and instructors of his deeds.
The quickness of his words is unsayable,
and like his statement it is sharp.
Its course knows no end and never fails.
It stands. Its descent and ways are incomprehensible.
Like his work is its end,
which is the light and dawn of thought.
Through it worlds converse and the silent acquire speech.
From it came love and concord and candor,
and the word penetrated them and knew him who made it.
They came into concord.
The mouth of the highest one spoke to them,
and that word made him clear.
The dwelling place of the word is you,
and its truth is love.
Blessings on you who by it have learned everything
and have known the lord in his truth.
Song 13
Look, the lord is our mirror.
Open your eyes and see your eyes in him.
And learn the way of your face
and praise his spirit.
Wipe the makeup from your face
and love his holiness. Dress in him.
Then at all times, dressed in him,
you will be stainless.

377. 368 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Song 14
As the eyes of a son to his father,
so my eyes turn to you always, O lord.
You are my consolation and happiness.
Don't turn your mercy from me, O lord,
nor withhold your kindness,
but stretch out your right hand
and guide me until the end of time.
Care for me, save me from evil,
and let your gentleness and love be with me.
Teach me to sing truth that I may engender fruit in you.
Open the harp of your holy spirit
so I may praise you with all its notes.
From your sea of mercy, help me in my hour of need.
Song 15
As the sun is joy to those who seek daybreak,
my joy is the lord.
He is my sun, and his rays have lifted me up
and chased all darkness from my face.
I have acquired eyes and heard his truth.
I have acquired knowledge, and he has made me happy.
I left the way of error, went to him, and he saved me.
According to his bounty, he gave me;
according to his beauty, he made me.
I found purity through his name.
I shed corruption through his grace.
Death has died before my countenance.
Hell is abolished by my word.
A deathless life appears in the land of the lord,
known to those with belief, and lasts unceasingly.
Song 16
As the work of the farmer is the plow
and the helmsman the guidance of the ship,
my work is a song to the lord.
My art and occupation are in singing his good name.

378. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDO
His love feeds my heart.
His sweet foods reach my lips.
In my mouth his spirit talks of his glory and beauty,
labor of his hands, the craft of his fingers,
mercy of infinite horizon, the power of his word.
The lord's word finds the invisible and reveals his thought.
Our eye sees his labor, our ears hear his mind.
He spread out the earth and placed the waters in the sea.
He measured the firmament and fixed the stars.
He created and rested.
Created things follow a pattern. They know no rest.
Throngs of people follow his word.
The gold coin of light is the sun.
The gold coin of darkness is the night.
He made the sun to clarify the day
but evening blurs the face of the earth.
Their alternation speaks the beauty of god.
And nothing exists without the lord.
He was before anything was. With his word,
his thought, and his heart he made our worlds.
To his name glory and honor.
Song 17
I was crowned by god, by a crown alive.
My lord justified me. He is my sure salvation.
He freed me from myself and condemnation.
The chain fell from my wrists.
I took on the face and ways of a new person,
walked in him, and was redeemed.
The thought of truth drove me.
I walked to it and didn't wander off.
Those who saw me were amazed,
supposing me 10 be a strange person.
He who knew me and brought me up
is the mountain of perfection.
He glorified me by kindness
and raised my thought to truth, showing me his way.

379. 370 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
I opened closed doors, shattered bars of iron.
My shackles melted. Nothing appeared closed
because I opened the door to everything.
I freed slaves, left no one in bonds.
I spread my knowledge and love
and sowed my fruits in hearts, transforming them.
I blessed them. They lived.
I gathered and saved them.
They became the limbs of my body and I their mind.
Glory to the mind, you my lord and messiah.
Song 18
My heart was raised and magnified in the love of the highest one.
I wanted to celebrate his name.
My arms and legs were made powerful
that they might not fall from his power.
He healed my bodily sickness.
His will was firm as his kingdom.
O lord, that I may help the weak,
let me keep your word. For their sake,
don't deny me your perfection.
Let the luminary not be conquered by darkness.
Let truth not fear the hands of falsehood.
Appoint me to victory. Your right hand is salvation.
Receive and preserve us who greet
temptation. In your mouth there is no falsehood,
no death, my god.
Your will is perfection.
Vanity you don't know, nor does it know you.
Error you don't know, not does it know you.
Ignorance appeared like the dust and scum of the sea.
The vain thought error great and pregnant with child.
The wise understood
and meditated unpolluted in their meditations.
They shared the mind of the lord.
They laughed at those in error.

380. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
They spoke truth breathed into them from the highest one.
His name is great and beautiful.
Song 19
A cup of milk was offered,
and I drank its sweetness as the delight of the lord.
The son is the cup,
and he who was milked is the father.
His milk should not drip out wastefully.
The holy ghost opened the father's raiment
and mingled the milk from the father's two breasts
and gave that mingling to the world,
which was unknowing.
Those who drink
are near his right hand.
The spirit opened the virgin's womb,
and she received the milk.
The virgin became a mother
of enormous mercy.
She labored but not in pain
and bore a son.
No midwife came.
She bore him as if she were a man,
openly, with dignity, with kindness.
She loved him and swaddled him
and disclosed his majesty.
Song 20
I am a priest of the lord and serve him as priest.
I offer him the offering of his thought.
His thought is not like the world,
not of the flesh
or of those who serve in the flesh.
The lord offers his goodness, his stainless heart and lips,
his inner world that is faultless.
Let hearts not oppress hearts, nor souls harm souls.

381. 372 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Don't bribe a stranger, because that stranger is you.
Don't trick your neighbor.
Don't take the clothing from him that hides his nakedness,
but dress in the grace of the lord generously
and walk in paradise
and from his tree make a garland6 for your head.
Loop it around your hair. Be happy and rest in his rest.
His glory will go before you.
You will inhabit his kindness and grace
and be fat in truth7
with the praise of his holiness.
Praise and honor his name.
Song 21
I raised my arms high to the grace of the lord,
for he cast off my bonds.
My helper had raised me to his grace and salvation.
I discarded darkness
and dressed in the clothing of light.
My soul acquired a body free from sorrow,
free from torture and mutilation.
The lord's thought restored me.
I fed on his incorruptible fellowship.
In the light he raised me.
I went to him, near him,
praising and shouting his name.
He made my heart flood into my mouth.
He made it shine on my lips.
On my face the exultation of the lord grew.
My praise exploded.
6. Harris and Mingana give "garland," Charlesworth "crown." "Garland" carries out the
metaphor into the next line.
7. "Fat in truth" is Harris and Mingana's version, "anointed in truth" is Charlesworth's. Harris
and Mingana cite Isaiah 58: "and he shall satisfy thy soul with fatness."

382. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Song 22 i
You who bring me down from on high
and bring me up from the regions below,
who gather what is on the earth
and hurl at me,
who scatter my enemies,
who gave me mastery of binding ropes
for me to loosen them
and with my hands have overthrown the dragon
with seven heads
and inserted myself in his roots to destroy his seed,
you were here and helped me,
and everywhere your name circled me.
Your right hand destroyed his wicked poison.
Your hand smoothed the way for those who believe in you
and chose them from their graves,
separating them from the dead,
and you took dead bones and covered them with bodies.
They were motionless,
and you gave them the energy of life.
Your way and your face were stainless.
To corruption you brought your world cleaned and refreshed.
The foundation is your rock on which you built your kingdom
where the holy live.
Song 23
The holy are happy. Who but they alone will wear joy?
The elect wear grace.
And who will be arrayed in grace
but those who from the beginning have believed?
The elect wear love.
And who will be arrayed in love
but those who from the beginning have believed?
Walk in the knowledge of the lord,
and you will know the grace of the lord of generosity,

383. 374 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
his exultation, and the perfection of his gnosis.
His thought was a letter,
and his will descended from the skies,
shot like an arrow violently released from its bow.
Many hands rushed to the letter
to catch it, take it, and read it,
yet it slipped from their fingers,
and they were terrified of it and its seal.
They couldn't loosen the seal,
for the power of the seal was greater than they.
Others saw the letter and chased it,
wondering where it would land
and who might read it, who might hear it.
But a wheel caught the letter
and rolled over it, and it stuck there,
and it was a sign of the kingdom and realm.
Everything moving near the wheel
the wheel cut down,
and it destroyed a multitude of enemies
and bridged rivers and crossed over and uprooted forests,
leaving a huge ditch.
As if a body were on the wheel, a head turned
down to the feet. The wheel turned on the feet
and on whatever struck it.
The letter commanded over all districts,
and there appeared a head. It became
the son of truth from the father on high, who possessed all,
and the thought of many became nothing,
and the apostates and seducers grew brave yet fled,
and tormentors were blotted out.
The letter became a great tablet,
a volume written by the finger of god.
On it was the name of the father and the son
and the holy spirit,
and their word of dominion forever.

384. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 375
Song 24
The dove flew over the head of the messiah,
who was her head, and she sang over him
and her voice was heard.
The inhabitants were terrified
and travelers shuddered.
Birds took flight
and all creeping things died in their holes.
Abysses opened and closed.
Like women in labor they were seeking god.
They had no food.
No one belonged to them.
The abysses sank and were sealed by the lord,
and the people perished
in their own thought ancient and new.
Everyone was imperfect and died.
They could say nothing.
The lord destroyed the imagination
of all who didn't have his truth.
They were weak in wisdom
and were rejected. They lacked his truth.
The lord disclosed his way
and sprang his grace in alien lands.
Those who understand know holiness.
Song 25
I was rescued from my chains
and fled to you, my god.
You are the right hand of my salvation
and my helper.
You held back those who rose against me
and the disappeared.
Your face was with me.
I was saved by your grace.
But in the eyes of many I was abhorred and excluded.
In their eyes I was lead.

385. 37^ LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
I assumed strength from you
and drank your help.
You placed a lamp at my right hand and at my left!
In me nothing is not bright.
Your spirit covered me,
and I took off my robe of skin.
Your right hand raised me
and removed my sickness.
I grew strong in your truth,
holy in your goodness.
My enemies feared me.
I was of the lord by the name of the lord,
and justified by his gentleness.
His rest goes on forever.
Song 26
I poured praise on the lord.
I am his.
I recite his holy poem.
My heart is with him.
His harp is in my hand,
and the poems of his rest will not be silent.
I cry to him from my whole heart,
praise and exalt him with my limbs.
From the east and far into the west
is his praise.
From the south and far into the north
confession is his.
And from the top of hills to the greatest peaks
is his perfection.
Who can write the poems of the lord,
or who can read them?
Who can train the soul for life to save the soul?
Who can rest high in the firmament
so that the mouth speaks?
Who can decipher the wonders of the lord?

386. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 377
The interpreter perishes, the interpreted stops.
It is enough to know and to rest and rest.
The motionless singers stand before a great river
with a huge fountain
flowing to those who seek the poem of the lord.
Song 2j
I extend my hands and hallow my lord.
The expansion of my hands is his sign,
and my expansion is the erected wood.
Song 28
Like the wings of the doves over their infant doves
whose mouths lift to their mothers' mouths,
so are the wings of the spirit over my heart.
My heart is happy and leaps
like the infant who moves happy in her mother's womb.
I believed. I was peaceful.
My faith was in him whom I trusted.
He hugely blessed me.
My mind is with him.
No sword nor scimitar divides us:
I prepared before destruction came.
I am in his arms that do not know death.
Deathless life hugged and kissed me.
That spirit is in me; it cannot die. It lives.
RESPONSE
They marveled at me because I was persecuted.
They supposed me swallowed up.
To them I seemed lost.
My oppression was my salvation.
They scorned me because in me was no anger.
Because I did good I was hated.
They surrounded me like mad dogs
who stupidly attack their masters.

387. 378 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Their thought is corrupt, their mind perverted.
I carried water in my right hand.
With sweetness I endured the bitter.
I didn't perish. I wasn't their brother.
My birth was other.
They sought my death. They failed.
I was older than their memory.
They cast lots against me. They failed.
Those who came later
tried to destroy the memory of him before them.
No one foretells the thought from the one in the sky.
His heart surpasses wisdom.
Song 29
The lord is my hope. With him I shall not be lost,
and through his praise he made me,
and through his goodness he gave me common objects,
and through his beauty he set me on high.
He led me out of the depths of Sheol8
and saved me from the mouth of death.
I laid my enemies low,
and he justified me through his grace.
I believed in him. I believed in the messiah,
and he came to me and showed me his sign
and led me by the way of his light.
He also gave me the rod of his power
to subdue the dreams of others, to bring down the mighty,
to make war through his word
and find victory through his power.
By his word the lord overthrew my enemy,
who was like stubble blown away in the wind.
I praise him on high who exalts me, his servant.
He has exalted the son of his handmaid.
8. Hell.

388. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 379
Song 30
Drink deeply from the living fountain of the lord.
It is yours.
Come, all who are thirsty, and drink,
and rest by the fountain of the lord.
How beautiful and pure.
It eases the soul.
That water is sweeter than honey.
The combs of bees are nothing beside it.
It flows from the lips of the lord.
Its name is from the lord's heart.
It is invisible but has no borders
and was unknown until it was set in our midst.
They who drink are blessed and are eased.
Song 31
Chasms vanished before the lord,
and darkness fades with his appearance.
Error wandered and disappeared because of him.
Contempt found no path and was submerged in the truth of the lord.
He opened his mouth and spoke grace and happiness.
He sang a new poem to his name
and raised his voice to the firmament
and offered him children in his hands.
By the ways his father gave to him,
his face was justified.
RESPONSE
Come, you who have suffered, and be happy.
Possess your souls through grace.
Accept deathless life.
They condemned me when I stood on my feet,
I who was guiltless.
They divvied the spoil though nothing was theirs. I endured, held my peace,
silent so they couldn't get to me.
I was a firm rock pounded by waves, braving the blows.

389. 380 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
I bore their bitterness with humility
to redeem and instruct my people.
I couldn't forget my word to the patriarchs,
to whom I had promised salvation of their seed.
Song 32
To the blessed, happiness lives in the heart,
and his light resides in them.
The word comes out of self-created truth.
He is strong from the holy force up in the skies
and forever unshaken.
Song 33
Grace raced away from the corrupter,
then turned her back on him to denounce him.
He left utter havoc around him
and spoiled his constructions.
He stood on a summit and screamed
from one end of the earth to the other,
drawing near those who obeyed.
He did not seem evil,
but a perfect virgin stood near and cried out:
"Sons and daughters, come back.
Leave the corrupter.
Come to me. I will enter you
and lead you out of devastation.
I will make you wise in the way of truth.
Do not destroy yourself.
Do not perish. Hear me and be saved.
I tell you of god's grace.
By me you will be redeemed and blessed.
I am your judge.
You who help me will not be injured.
You will possess purity in a fresh world.
My chosen ones stroll in me.
I shall inform you who seek me.
I shall make you trust my name.

390. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Song 34
The simple heart finds no bad way,
good thought finds no wounds.
Deep in the illuminated mind is no storm.
Surrounded on every side by the beauty of the open country,
who is not free of doubt?
Below is like above. Everything is above.
Below is nothing,
but the ignorant think they see.
Now you know grace and salvation.
Believe and live and be saved.
Song 35
The dew of the lord rinsed me with silence,
and a cloud of peace rose over my head,
guarding me.
It became my salvation.
Everybody quivered in horror.
They issued smoke and judgment,
but I was silent, near my lord,
who was more than shadow, more than foundation.
He carried me like a child by its mother.
He gave me milk, his dew,
and I grew in his bounty
and rested in his perfection.
I spread my hands out
as my soul pointed to the firmament,
and I slipped upward to him
who redeemed me.
Song 36
I found rest in the spirit of the lord,
who raised me
and had me stand on my feet in the high terrains
of the lord,
before his perfection, before his glory,
while I praised him in my poems.

391. 382 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
RESPONSE
Soul led me before the face of the lord.
Through the earthly son
I was named the light, the child of god.
I was the most glorified of the glorious,
greatest of the great.
Like the great lofty one, she the soul made me
like his freshness. He renewed me.
From his perfection he anointed me,
and I became equal to those near him.
My mouth was open like a dew cloud,
my heart gushed with goodness,
my way to him was peace,
and I joined the soul of his providence.
Song 37
I extended my hand to the lord
and to his skies raised my voice.
I spoke through the lips of my heart,
and he heard me when my voice went to him.
His word came to me with the fruit of my labor.
I found ease through the grace of the lord.
Song 38
I went up to the light of truth
as into a chariot,
and truth took me across canyons and ravines
and preserved me against waves smashing the cliffs.
She was my haven and salvation
and left me in the arms of immortal life.
She went with me, soothed me, kept me from error.
She was and is the light of truth.
Song 39
Mammoth rivers are the force of the lord.
They wash away those who despise him.

392. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
They entangle their paths and destroy their crossings.
They carry away their bodies
and burn their souls.
They are faster than lightning. Quicker.
Yet those who walk stainlessly on rivers
will not be hurt.
Those who walk without blame on them
need not cringe.
Their sign is the lord.
The sign is the way for those who cross in the name
of the lord.
Dress in the name of the high one and know him
and cross unworried. The rivers obey you.
The lord bridges waters with his word
as he walked and crossed on them with his feet.
His feet are firm on the water and do not sink.
They are a fixed beam of wood fashioned of truth.
Wave rise on both sides. The lord messiah stands.
His footsteps are not washed away.
They do not perish.
A way exists for those who cross after him,
for those on his path of faith and who love his name.
Song 40
As honey drips from the combs of bees
and milk flows from the woman who loves her child,
so my hope goes to you, my god.
As a fountain bursts with water
my heart bursts with praise for the lord
through my lips.
My tongue is sweet from his conversation,
my limbs fattened by the sweetness of his poems.
My face joys in his exultation.
My spirit exults in his love.
My soul shines in him.
Who is afraid finds safety in him

393. 384 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
and redemption is certain in him,
and possession of eternal life.
Those who are in him cannot be stained.
Song 41
All who see me will be astonished,
for I am an alien among you.
The father of truth remembered me.
He possessed me from the beginning.
Through his riches and thought in his heart
he engendered me.
His word is our way.
The savior makes us alive and doesn't forget our souls.
The humbled
are exalted in him.
The son of the highest one
appeared in the father's perfection.
Light found daybreak in the word
that was earlier his.
The messiah is one,
known before the foundation of the world.
He saves souls in his truth and name.
Let us sing to the lord. We love him.
Song 42
I stretched out my hands and came near my lord.
It is my sign, stretching my hands as if spread on a tree.
That was my way up to the good one.
I became useless to those who didn't seize me.
I hid from those who don't love me
but am with them who love me.
My persecutors died.

394. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WIvSDOM
They sought me because I am alive.
I rose up and am with them
and speak through their mouths.
They despised their persecutors.
I locked them in the yoke of love.
Like the groom over the bride,
so is my love over those who believe in me.
They thought me rejected, destroyed. I wasn't.
Hell saw me and was miserable.
Death cast me up along with others.
I have been gall and bitterness to death.
I went down with it to the uttermost depth,
and it released my feet and head,
for it couldn't endure my face.
I made a congregation of living men among its dead
and spoke to them with living lips.
My word wasn't empty.
The dead ran toward me, screaming,
"Son of god, pity us. Be kind
and bring us out of the bonds of darkness.
Open the door into your being.
We perceive our death has not touched you.
Save us, redeemer."
I heard their voice and stored their faith in }hy heart.
I set my name upon their heads.
They are free men and mine.

395. 24
The Song of the Pearl
F I I
• he Song of the Pearl is a narrative poem about a prince's quest for
I a pearl. Presented in the Acts of Thomas as a hymn uttered by
JL. Thomas, The Song of the Pearl is also a gnostic tale of salvation, of
sleeping in error and awakening to light, of quest not only for the pearl but for
the benefit of possessing the pearl: a return to the light.
What is the pearl? As one of the alternative titles of the poem, "The Hymn
of the Soul," suggests, the pearl may esoterically be the soul. Or the pearl may
be gnosis, the awakening, and the knowledge that the soul must have to move
to the next level of being. Bentley Layton suggests that the prince and his
quest may be the soul and its journey, the poem a tale of "the soul's entry
into bodily incarnation and its eventual disengagement from the body."1 The
soul on entering matter becomes inert, but once in possession of its pearl of
knowledge it will waken into wisdom and reunion with "the first principle."
Giinther Bornkamm believes the young prince and savior to be Mani him­self,
the founder of Manichaeism. The mysteries of interpretation fortu­nately
are not fixed and apparent. Were the symbolic figures—a road, a coat,
a serpent, a pearl, a wandering prince—easily decodable, the poem might be
merely didactic. But the narrative is shot through with mysterious changes,
dramatic turns and transformations that may be interpreted as theology only
at risk of error.
i. Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, p. 366.

396. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 387
Having discounted absolute interpretation, we perceive some clues. On the
surface the poem is simply an adventure. Yet everywhere in it are clues of other
meanings. After all, serpents who sleep with pearls in their possession cannot
but have an allegorical dimension. These symbols were used in Mandaean tra­ditional
tales as well as in such gnostic works as the Pistis Sophia. Scholarship
suggests that the main characters—the father, mother, and prince—form a
gnostic trinity, equivalent to the Christian trinitarian formula. They may rep­resent
the father of truth, the mother of wisdom, and the son. The son, who is
redeemer and savior, is not Christ, however, or at least not primarily Christ.
Hans Jonas identifies him with the Manichaean pre-cosmic human. The son
has a double or twin role, for he appears to be both savior and the soul that he
saves; he saves and must himself be saved. So too the pearl, which at first ap­pears
to be a symbol of the soul, is also the deity who saves the soul. The no­tion
of the double is typically gnostic: the role of Thomas as twin in the
Gospel of Thomas and the Book of Thomas is but one example. As Jonas
points out, "the interchangeability of the subject and object of the mission, of
savior and soul, Prince and Pearl, is the key to the true meaning of the poem,
and to the gnostic eschitology in general."2
Other symbols in the poem are doubled as well. The prince's garment of
glory, which is his spiritual body, he has taken off and left behind in order to
assume the unclean robe of the world, which is obviously the unclean physical
body. But the garment of glory also operates as an independent being, re­minding
him of his duty to return. So too the letter, on which is written the
call of redemption, flies down like an eagle from heaven and becomes a mes­senger
of light, in a way that recalls the heavenly letter of the Songs of
Solomon. On the way the letter, the word, seems to take on a woman's voice.
Whoever the author and whatever the background, that poem's creator revels
in games of spiritual ambiguity, skirting confusion as it deepens into swift
spectacle. The prince has left the east, the land of light and origin, to go down
to Egypt, which stands traditionally for the body, for material things, for dark­ness
and error. It is the kingdom of death, which is exemplified by the tomb
culture and underground cult of the dead. Likewise, the serpent is the realm of
darkness and ignorance, in dark waters on the earth below the sea.
In this fable of redemption, as Hans Jonas points out, the savior himself
must be saved—or rather, must save himself. We see the dramatic way in
2. Jonas, Gnostic Religion, p. 127.

397. 388 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
which the savior turns human, forgets who he is, and falls into the sleep of
earthly things. Ultimately his parents, the father of truth and mother of wis­dom,
do not abandon him. They send messages. He wakes from the prison of
earthly things, steals the pearl, and returns to his royal parents with the prom­ise
of rising to his true parents of the spirit.
Whether this popular tale is an old Mesopotamian legend or a Jewish or
Christian story that has undergone a gnostic overlay, in the form in which it
survives it is a poetic culmination of gnostic principles, conveyed with a min­imum
of cosmogony and deific mischief. It has the stanzaic form of Jewish
poetry, without rhyme or fixed meter, where prosody is based largely on par-allelistic
couplets. The Song of the Pearl appears as a supplement to the apoc­ryphal
Greek Acts of Thomas. One version is in Greek and another slightly
different version in Syriac. Its date of composition, Bentley Layton suggests,
points to the Parthian dynasty of Persia (247 BCE-224 CE); or, if composed in
Edessa when the city was under Parthian control, before 165 CE.
THE SONG OF THE PEARL3
DRESSING FORTHE JOURNEY
When I was a little child living
in my father's palace in his kingdom,
happy in the glories and riches
of my family that nurtured me,
my parents gave me supplies
and sent me out on a mission
from our home in the east.
From their treasure house
they made up a cargo for me.
It was big though light enough
so I could carry it myself,
holding gold from the highest houses
3. The Song of the Pearl: translated by Han J. W. Drijvers (Schneemelcher, ed., New Testament
Apocrypha, vol. 2,380-85), Robert M. Grant (Gnosticism, pp. 116-22), and Bentley Layton (The
Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation with Annotations and Introductions, pp. 371-75); trans­lated
by Willis Barnstone.

398. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 389
and silver of Gazzak the Great
and rubies of India
and opals from the land of Kushan,4
and they girded me with adamant
that can crush iron.
They took off my bright robe of glory,
which they had made for me out of love, C
and took away my purple toga,
which was woven to fit my stature.
/ They made a covenant with me
and wrote it in my heart so I would not forget:
"When you go down into Egypt
and bring back the one pearl
that lies in the middle of the sea
and is guarded by the snorting serpent,
you will again put on your robe of glory
and your toga over it,
and with your brother, our next in rank,
you will be heir in our kingdom."
THE DRAGON AND THE DEEP SLEEP
I left the east and traveled down
to Egypt with my two royal guides,
since the way was dangerous and harsh
and I was very young to walk alone.
I crossed the borders of Maishan,5
the gathering place of merchants of the east,
came into the land of the Babylonians,6
and entered the walls of Sarbug.
When I went down into Egypt
my companions left me.
I went straight to the serpent
4- Kushan may be Kashan or Kosan, north of Isfahan, in Parthian Iran.
5- Bentley Layton suggests that Maishan may refer to "Mesene or Characene at the head of the
Persian Gulf" (Gnostic Scriptures, p. 372).
6. Not Babylon by the Euphrates but the Roman fortress city in present-day Old Cairo.

399. 390 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
and settled close by him in an inn,
waiting for him to sleep
so I could take my pearl from him.
Since I was alone
I was a stranger to others in the inn,
yet I saw one of my own people there,
a nobleman from the east,
young, handsome, lovable,
a son of kings—an anointed one,
and he came and was close to me.
And I made him my confidante
with whom I shared my mission.
I warned him against the Egyptians
and of contact with the unclean ones.
Then I put on a robe like theirs,
lest they suspect me as an outsider
who had come to steal the pearl,
lest they arouse the serpent against me.
Somehow they learned I was not
their countryman, dealt with me cunningly,
and gave me their food to eat.
I fell into a deep sleep.
I forgot that I was a son of kings
and served their king.
I forgot the pearl
for which my parents had sent me.
Through the heaviness of their food
I fell into a deep sleep.
"REMEMBER THE PEARL"
When all these things happened
my parents knew and grieved for me.
It was proclaimed in our kingdom
that all should come to our gate.
And the kings and princes of Parthia
and all the nobles of the east
wove a plan on my behalf
so I would not be left in Egypt.

400. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
And they wrote me a letter
and every noble signed it with his name:
"From your father, the king of kings,
and your mother, the mistress of the east,
and from your brother, our next in rank,
and to you, our son in Egypt, peace!
Awake and rise from your sleep
and hear the words of our letter!
Remember that you are a son of kings
and see the slavery of your life.
Remember the pearl
for which you were sent into Egypt!
Remember your robe of glory
and your splendid mantle, which you may wear
when your name is called in the book of life,
when it is read in the book of heroes,
when you and your brother inherit our kingdom."
THE BIRD OF SPEECH
And serving as messenger,
the letter was a letter sealed by the king
with his right hand
against the evil children of Babylon
and the savage demons of the Sarbug labyrinth.
It rose up in the form of an eagle,
the king of all winged fowl;
it flew and alighted beside me
and became speech.
At its voice and the sound of its rustling
I awoke and rose from my sleep.
I took it, kissed it, broke its seal, and read.
And the words written on my heart
were in the letter for me to read.
I remembered that I was the son of kings
and my free soul longed for its own kind.
I remembered the pearl
for which I was send down into Egypt,
and I began to enchant

401. 392 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
the terrible and snorting serpent.
I charmed him into sleep
by calling the name of my father over him
and of my mother, the queen of the east.
I seized the pearl
and turned to carry it to my father.
Those filthy and impure garments
I stripped off, leaving them in the fields,
and went straight on my way
into the light of our homeland in the east.
THE LETTER'S VOICE
On my way the letter that awakened me
was lying like a woman on the road.7
And as she had awakened me with her voice
so she guided me with her light
as if she were an oracle.
She was written on Chinese silk
and shone before me in her own form.
Her voice soothed my fear
and its love urged me on.
I hurried past the labyrinth walls of Sarbug
and Babylon on the left
and came to Maishan, the haven of merchants,
perched over the coast of the sea.
My robe of glory that I had taken off
and the toga over it were sent by my parents
from the heights of Hyrcania.
They were in the hands of treasurers
to whom they were committed
because of their faith,
and I had forgotten the robe's splendor,
for as a child I had left it
in my father's house.
7. This understanding is based on the Greek version. In the Syriac version the letter, personi­fied,
simply speaks forth with its own voice.

402. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 393
THE GARMENT OF GNOSIS
As I gazed on it, suddenly the garment
like a mirror reflected me,
and I saw myself apart
as two entities in one form.
The treasurers had brought me one robe,
yet in two halves I saw one shape
with one kingly seal.
They gave me wealth,
and the bright embroidered robe
was colored with gold and beryls,
with rubies and opals,
and sardonyxes of many colors
were fastened to it in its high home.
All its seams were fastened
with stones of adamant,
and the image of the king of kings
was embroidered on it
as it rippled with sapphires
of many colors.
I saw it quiver all over,
moving with gnosis, in a pulsing knowledge,
and as it prepared to speak
it moved toward me,
murmuring the sound of its songs.
It descended and said,
"I am the one who acted for him.
For him I was brought up in my father's house.
I saw myself growing in stature
in harmony with his labors."
THE TOGA AND THE PEARL
With regal movements
the robe was spreading toward me,
urging me to take it,
and love urged me to receive it,

403. 394 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
and I stretched forth and received it
and put on the beauty of its hues.
I cast my toga of brilliant colors
all around me.
Therein I clothed myself and ascended
to the gate of salutation and adoration.
I bowed my head and adored
the majesty of my father, who sent it to me.
I had fulfilled his commands
and he fulfilled what he had promised.
At the gate of his princes
I mingled with his nobles.
He was happy through me and received me,
and I was with him in his kingdom,
and his slaves praised him resoundingly.
He promised me that I would journey soon
with him to the gate of the king of kings,
and with my gifts and my pearl
I would appear with him before our king.

404. 25
The Book of Thomas
f I 1
I he Book of Thomas is a text that claims to have been written
I in conjunction with Judas Thomas, the twin brother of Jesus
JL. and the apostolic hero of Syrian Christians. Like the Gospel of
Thomas, the Book of Thomas is identified at the opening of the document
as a sayings collection: "The hidden sayings that the savior spoke to Judas
Thomas." The editor of the collection is identified as a certain Mathaias,
whose name is similar to that of the messenger (or apostle) and gospel-writer
Matthew (Matthaios) and the replacement apostle Matthias (Acts 1:26), but
whose precise identity remains uncertain.
Appended at the end of the document are the words "the Book of
Thomas the Contender Writing to the Perfect." Traditionally this inscription
has been taken at face value, but some scholars have suggested that it may be
read as two titles of the text, "The Book of Thomas," and "The Contender
Writing to the Perfect," and that these two titles may reflect the composite na­ture
of the text. After all, the text contains sayings of Jesus and a dialogue be­tween
Jesus and Thomas, along with a sermon by Jesus on sinners who face
judgment. Hans-Martin Schenke argues that the contender designated in the
second title is none other than the patriarch Jacob, the most famous con­tender
in the Jewish tradition. Hence, Schenke maintains, behind the present
Book of Thomas may be a Jewish source in the form of a letter said to be au­thored
by Jacob the contender.
Within the Book of Thomas the utterances of Jesus sometimes recall say­ings
and themes in the Gospel of Thomas. Here Jesus comments on Judas
the twin, on knowledge of self, on what is hidden and what is visible, on the

405. 396 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
desires of the flesh, and on wisdom and foolishness. In the middle of the text,
and at the very end, Jesus states that one should seek (or pray) and find and
rest, as in Gospel of Thomas 2. Like the Book of Thomas in general, the ser­mon
of Jesus recommends an ascetic way of life, and as such it is profoundly
concerned about the life and the sins of the flesh. In its presentation the ser­mon
echoes ancient descriptions of the underworld and punishments for the
wicked and anticipates later portrayals of judgment in Dante's Inferno and
even Jonathan Edwards's sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."
The Book of Thomas survives in Coptic in the Nag Hammadi library. Like
the Gospel of Thomas, the Book of Thomas probably was composed in Greek,
in Syria, where Thomas was revered. John Turner proposes that at least part of
the Book of Thomas should be dated to the first part of the third century, that
is, after the Gospel of Thomas and before the Acts of Thomas.
THE BOOK OF THOMAS'
The hidden sayings that the savior spoke to Judas Thomas, which I, Mathaias,
in turn recorded.21 was walking, listening to them speak with each other.
JESUS TALKS TO HIS BROTHER THOMAS
The savior said, "Brother Thomas, while you are still in the world, listen to me
and I shall reveal to you what you have thought about in your heart.
"Now, since it is said that you are my twin and my true friend, examine
yourself and understand who you are, how you exist, and how you will come
to be.3 Since you are to be called my brother, it is not fitting for you to be ig­norant
of yourself. And I know that you have understood, for already you
have understood that I am the knowledge of truth. So while you are walking
with me, though you are ignorant, already you have obtained knowledge, and
1. The Book of Thomas: Nag Hammadi library, Codex 11,7, PP-138,1 to 145,19; translated by
Marvin Meyer. Several passages are partially restored; see Hans-Martin Schenke and Einar
Thomassen, "The Book of Thomas," in Schneemelcher, ed., New Testament Apocrypha, 1.232-47.
2. In the opening of the Gospel of Thomas, Judas Thomas is thought to be the twin brother of
Jesus; the name of Mathaias resembles that of the original messenger Matthew and the replace­ment
messenger Matthias, but his identity is unclear.
3. Similar lists of questions may be found in the Secret Book of John, the Letter of Peter to
Philip, and the Gospel of Truth.

406. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 397
you will be called one who knows himself.4 For someone who has not known
self has known nothing, but someone who has known self already has ac­quired
knowledge about the depth of the universe. So then, my brother
Thomas, you have seen what is hidden from people, what they stumble
against in their ignorance."
THE HIDDEN AND THE VISIBLE
Thomas said to the master, "For this reason I beg you to tell me what I ask be­fore
your ascension. When I hear from you about the hidden, I can speak of it.
And clearly it is hard to bring truth to people."
The savior answered and said, "If what is visible to you is obscure to you,
how can you comprehend what is invisible? If deeds of truth visible in the
world are hard for you to carry out, how will you do invisible things of exalted
greatness and fullness?5 How can you be called workers? You are beginners
and have not attained the greatness of perfection."
Thomas answered and said to the savior, "Tell us about these things that
you say are not visible but are hidden from us."
The savior said, "All bodies have come into being in the same irrational
way that animals are produced, and so they are visible, as creatures lusting
after creatures. Those that are above, however, do not exist like those that are
visible. Rather, they live6 from their own root, and it is their crops that nour­ish
them. These visible bodies feed on creatures that are like them, and so the
bodies are subject to change. Now, whatever is subject to change will perish
and be lost, and henceforth has no hope of life, because this body is an animal
body. Just as animal bodies perish, so also will these figures perish. Is it7 not
from copulation like that of the animals? If it too is from copulation, how will
it give birth to anything different from them? So then you are children until
you become perfect."
Thomas answered, "So I say to you, master, those who speak about what is
invisible and difficult to explain are like people who shoot their arrows at a
target during the night. Of course, they shoot their arrows as any people do,
4. This recalls the Delphic maxim "Know yourself" and Gospel of Thomas 3.
5. This contrast between the visible and the invisible is a contrast between the lower world of
body, change, perishability, and animal nature and the higher world of soul, constancy, immor­tality,
and spiritual nature. This discussion resembles the discussion of the soul in Plato's Phaedo.
6. Coptic e[u]onh. Or, "they are visible" (Coptic e[uou]onh). The previous lines are partially
restored.
7. The body.

407. 398 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
since they are shooting at the target, but it is not visible. When light comes,
however, and banishes darkness, then the accomplishment of each person will
be clear. And you, our light, bring enlightenment, master."
Jesus said, "Light is in light."
Thomas spoke and said, "Master, why does this visible light shining for
people rise and set?"8
The savior said, "O blessed Thomas, surely this visible light has shone for
you, not to keep you here, but so you can leave. And when all the chosen ones
lay down their animal nature, then this light will withdraw up to its being, and
its being will welcome it to itself, because the light is a good helper."
WISDOM AND FOOLISHNESS
Then the savior continued and said, "Oh, unsearchable love of light! Oh, bit­terness
of the fire! You blaze in the bodies of people, and in the marrow of
their bones, blazing in them night and day, burning their limbs and making
their minds drunk and their souls deranged. You dominate males and fe­males
day and night, you move and arouse them secretly and visibly. When
the males are aroused, they are attracted to the females and the females to the
males. So it is said that everyone who seeks truth from true wisdom9 will
fashion wings to fly, fleeing from the passion that burns human spirits. And
one will fashion wings to flee from every visible spirit."
Thomas answered, saying, "Master, this is precisely what I ask you. I un­derstand
that what you say is beneficial to us."
Again the savior answered and said, "This is why we must speak to you, be­cause
this teaching is for those who are perfect. If you wish to become perfect,
keep these sayings. If not, the name for you is 'ignorant,' since an intelligent
person cannot associate with a fool. The intelligent person is perfect in all wis­dom.
To the fool, however, good and evil are one and the same. The wise per­son
will be nourished by truth and will be like a tree growing by the stream of
water.10 Some people have wings but rush toward visible things that are far
from truth. The fire that guides them gives them an illusion of truth. And it
will shine on them with a perishable beauty, and will imprison them in dark
delight and capture them in sweet-smelling pleasure. And it will blind them
with insatiable desire, inflame their souls, and be like a stake jammed into
8. That is, the sun.
9. Sophia. The previous lines are partially restored.
10. Psalm 1:3.

408. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 399
their heart that can never be removed. It leads them according to its own wish,
like a bit in the mouth.11
"It has bound them with its chains and tied all their limbs with the bitter­ness
of the bondage of desire for those visible things that perish and change
and fluctuate impulsively. They have always been drawn downward. When
they are slain, they are drawn to all the animals of corruption."
Thomas answered and said, "It is clear and has been said that many are . ..
those who do not know... soul."
The savior answered and said, "Blessings on the wise person who has
sought truth and, when it has been found, has rested upon it for ever and
has not been afraid of those who wish to trouble him."12
OUR OWN AND THE OTHERS
Thomas answered and said, "Master, is it good for us to rest among our own?"
The savior said, "Yes, it is useful, and it is good for you, since the things vis­ible
among people will pass away. For the vessel of their flesh will pass away,
and when it disintegrates, it will remain in visible things, among things that
can be seen. The visible fire hurts them, because of the love of faith they once
had. They will be gathered back to the visible realm.13 Moreover, among the
invisible, those who can see will perish, without the first love, in their concern
for this life and the burning of the fire. There is only a little time before what
is visible will pass away. Then shapeless phantoms will come and stay forever
in tombs on corpses, in pain and destruction of soul."14
Thomas answered and said, "What can we say in the face of these things?15
What shall we say to the blind? What teaching shall we give these miserable
mortals who say, 'We have come to do good and not to curse,' and will say fur­ther,
'If we were not born in the flesh, we would not know iniquity'?"
The savior said, "To tell the truth, do not think of these as human beings,
but as animals. As animals devour each other, so also people like this devour
each other. They are deprived of the kingdom.16 They love the delight of fire
11. On the imprisonment of these people see the discussion in Plato's Phaedo, especially Phaedo
8iC-82A, 83DE.
12. See Gospel of Thomas 2.
13. This passage refers to the death and decay of the body (the vessel of flesh), and the punish­ment
and reincarnation of ignorant people.
14. On phantoms see the similar discussion in Plato's Phaedo 81C-E.
15. Or "these people."
16. The word "kingdom" is partially restored.

409. 4 0 0 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
and are slaves of death and rush to deeds of corruption. They fulfill their par­ents'
desire. They will be cast down into the abyss and be afflicted by the com­pulsion
of the bitterness of their evil nature. They will be whipped to drive
them down to a place they do not know, and they will leave their limbs behind,
not with fortitude but with despair. And they rejoice in the fire, they love mad­ness
and derangement, because they are fools. They rush after this derange­ment,
not realizing their madness but thinking they are wise. They . . . their
body . . . their hearts turning to themselves and their thoughts being on their
affairs. But fire will consume them."17
Thomas answered and said, "Master, what can one cast down to them do?
I am very concerned about them, for many oppose them."
The savior answered and said, "How does it look to you?"
Judas, who is called Thomas, said, "Master, you should speak and I should
listen."
The savior answered, "Listen to what I tell you and believe the truth. What
sows and what is sown will pass away in their fire, in fire and water, and will be
hidden in tombs of darkness. And after a long time the fruit of evil trees will ap­pear
and be punished and slain in the mouths of animals and people through
the agency of the rains, the winds, the air, and the light shining above."18
Thomas answered, "You have certainly convinced us, master. We perceive
in our hearts, it is clearly so, and your word is not meager. But these sayings
that you tell us are laughable and ridiculous to the world, since they are not
understood. How can we go forth and preach them when we are not respected
in the world?"
JESUS PREACHES ABOUT JUDGMENT
The savior answered and said, "I tell you the truth, whoever listens to your
word and turns away or sneers at it or smirks at these things, that person will
be handed over to the ruler who is on high, who rules as king over all the
powers, and the ruler will make him turn away and cast him down from on
high into the abyss, and he will be imprisoned in a cramped, dark place.
So he cannot turn or move because of the great depth of Tartaros19 and the
17. Partially restored.
18. On this description of what sows and is sown, note Plato's Phaedo 83DE, and other descrip­tions
comparing the life cycles of plants and humans.
19. The underworld, the realm of the dead, hell. Here the description of the underworld contains
features typical of other descriptions in Hesiod, Plato, Christian apocalypses, and even Dante.

410. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 401
burdensome bitterness of Hades. Whoever relies on what is brought to him
will not be forgiven his madness, but will be judged. Whoever has perse­cuted
you will be handed over to the angel Tartarouchos,20 who has flaming
fire that pursues them, and fiery whips that spew forth sparks into the face of
one who is pursued. If he flees to the west, he finds fire. If he turns south, he
finds it there as well. If he turns north, the threat of erupting fire meets him
again. Nor can he find the way to the east, to flee there and be saved, for he
did not find it while embodied so as to find it on the day of judgment."
SHAME ON YOU
Then the savior continued and said, "Shame on you, godless people, who have
no hope, who are secure in things that will not happen.
"Shame on you who hope in the flesh and in the prison that will perish.21
How long will you sleep and think that what is imperishable will also perish?
Your hope is based upon the world, and your god is this present life. You are
destroying your souls.
"Shame on you with the fire that burns within you. It is insatiable.
"Shame on you because of the wheel that turns in your minds.
"Shame on you because of the smoldering in you. It will devour your flesh
visibly, tear your souls secretly, and prepare you for each other.
"Shame on you, prisoners, for you are bound in caves. You laugh, you re­joice
in mad laughter. You do not perceive your destruction. Neither do you
perceive your plight, nor have you understood that you are in darkness and
death. Rather, you are drunk with fire and full of bitterness. Your hearts are de­ranged
because of the smoldering that is within you, and you delight in your
enemies' poison and blows. Darkness has risen in you like light, for you have
surrendered your freedom to slavery. You have darkened your hearts. You have
given in to foolishness, and you have filled your minds with the smoke of the
fire within. And your light has been hidden by the dark cloud. You love the
garment22 that you wear, although it is filthy, and you are gripped by nonex­istent
hope. You have believed in what you do not know. You all live in bondage
20. Tartarouchos is the angel or power who controls Tartaros.
21. The body is the perishable prison of the soul in Platonic and Orphic thought. Note also,
below, the prisoners bound in caves, and the Secret Book of John, on the physical body as a
cave (and the allegory of the cave in Plato's Republic).
22. The garment being worn is the body, which can be put on or taken off like an article of
clothing.

411. 402 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
but pride yourselves in your freedom. You have baptized your souls in the
water of darkness. You have pursued your own wishes.23
"Shame on you who are in error, not seeing that the light of the sun, which
judges the universe and looks down on the universe, will encircle everything
to make slaves of the enemies. Nor do you perceive how the moon looks down
night and day, seeing the bodies of your slaughters.
"Shame on you who love intercourse and filthy association with the
female.
"Shame on you because of the powers of your bodies, for they will mis­treat
you.
"Shame on you because of the actions of the evil demons.
"Shame on you who entice your limbs with fire. Who will sprinkle a rest­ful
dew on you, to extinguish the many fires within you, and your burning?
Who will shine the sun on you, to dispel darkness in you, and hide darkness
and filthy water?
"The sun and the moon will give a fragrant aroma to you and the air, the
spirit, the earth, and the water.24 If the sun does not shine upon these bodies,
they will rot and perish just like weed or grass. If the sun shines on it, it grows
strong and chokes the grapevine. But if the grapevine becomes strong and
casts its shadow over the weeds and all the rest of the brush growing with it,
and spreads and fills out, it alone inherits the land where it grows, and domi­nates
wherever it has cast its shadow. So when it grows, it dominates the whole
land, and it is productive for its master and pleases him greatly. He would have
labored painfully to pull out weeds, but the grapevine by itself has disposed of
them and choked them, and they have died and have become like earth."
Then Jesus continued and said to them, "Shame on you, for you have not
accepted the teaching, and those who wish to accept it will suffer when they
preach. You will persecute them, but you will rush into your own traps. You
will cast them down to the lions and put them to death, daily, but they will rise
from death."25
23. These lines are partially restored.
24. These are the four elements, with spirit replacing fire, since fire is characteristic of passion,
lust, and destruction in the Book of Thomas.
25. These lines are partially restored.

412. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 403
BLESSINGS ON YOU
"Blessings on you who understand beforehand temptations and flee from
things that are alien.
"Blessings on you who are mocked and are not respected because of your
master's love for you.
"Blessings on you who weep and are oppressed by those who have no hope,
for you will be released from all bondage.
"Watch and pray that you may not come to be in the flesh, but that
you may leave the bondage of the bitterness of this life. And when you pray,
you will find rest, for you have left pain and reproach behind. When you
leave the pains and the passions of the body, you will receive rest from the
good one. You will reign with the king, you united with him and he with you,
from now on and forever. Amen."26
26. This concluding paragraph is similar in wording to Gospel of Thomas 2.

414. Additional Literature of Gnostic Wisdom
26
The Exegesis
on the Soul
f I "1
I he Exegesis on the Soul is a history of the soul, of her fall into the
I world, her corruption there in the body of a woman hounded by
JtL... lecherous men, and the ways of her virtuous return, through
repentance, to heaven. As in other tractates, such as Herakleon's Commen­tary
on the Gospel of John, the notion of allegorical interpretation of scrip­ture
is central, a practice that orthodox Christians essentially adopted from
the gnostics while repudiating their thought. Here the interpretation extends
to the Hebrew prophets and Homer. Not only are these interpreted in ways
that support a gnostic system, but the texts themselves, at least in our Coptic
version, also appear in versions differing markedly from standard texts in
ways that confirm a gnostic slant. The author's sources were probably the an­thologies
of the day.
The soul in Greek is Psyche. She is understood to be feminine in name and
nature, and great stories are told about her in Greco-Roman literature. Here in
the Exegesis on the Soul she is presented as originally androgynous when she
was a virgin and with her father. When she fell into the earthly world she lost
her virginity to lovers and bandits, who deceived her as she deceived herself.
In her first fallen state, though the details are not transparent, the womb,
which appears to be the womb of the soul, is external, like male genitalia. Cap­tive
to her body and to men who abuse her through physical pleasure and then
abandon her, she asks the father to have mercy on her. The father turns the

415. 406 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
womb of her soul inward. Thereby she is stronger to protect herself against wan­ton
carnal lovers. And he sends a bridegroom from heaven, her brother, to have
chaste sex with her and produce good, rather than demented, children. Her
chaste lovemaking in the bridal chamber is a form of purification and rebirth,
which is equivalent to deliverance, resurrection, and ascension to heaven.
The story is fantastic and told like an ancient novella. It has been com­pared
to Jewish writings from the Bible and the apocrypha, since the soul,
the heroine, is presented as a woman. So it follows the scheme of redemption
of such sinners as Ruth, Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba. Centering on women's
redemption was also typical of other Jewish literature of the time, including
documents recounting the experience of the soul in the Essene texts found
at Qumran. The diverse influences in the exegesis—Jewish, Christian, Greco-
Roman, gnostic—reveal a syncretistic context for composition. From this so­phisticated
melange came this flagrantly sexual and heavenly erotic gnostic
scripture.
THE EXEGESIS ON THE SOUL1
VIRGINITY AND DEFILEMENT
Sages gave the soul a feminine name. In nature she is also feminine. She even
has a womb.
While she was alone with her father, she was a virgin and in an androgy­nous
form. When she fell down into a body and entered this life, then she fell
into the hands of thieves. Wanton men passed her from one to the other, used
her, some by force, others by seducing her with a gift. They defiled her and
took her virginity from her.
In her body she became a whore and gave herself to everyone, seeing each
one she hugged as a husband. After she let herself be taken by lecherous, un­faithful
adulterers, she sighed deeply and repented. But even when she turned
her face from the adulterers, she ran to others, and they compelled her to live
with them and make love with them on their beds as if they were her masters.
Then, out of shame, she no longer dared leave them, while they double-i.
Exegesis on the Soul: Nag Hammadi library, Codex 11,6, pp. 127,18 to 137,27; translated by
William C. Robinson Jr. (Robinson, Nag Hammadi Library in English, pp. 192-98); revised by
Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer.

416. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 407
crossed her, pretending to be faithful, true husbands, as if they respected her.
After all these acts, they took off, abandoning her.
She became a poor desolate widow, helpless. In her affliction she had no
food. From them she had gathered nothing but the defilements when they
coupled with her. Her offspring from the adulterers are mute, blind, and
sickly. They are disturbed. But when her father who is above looked down on
her and saw her sighing, suffering and in disgrace, and repenting of her pros­titution,
then she began to call on him for help with all her heart, saying, "Save
me, my father. Look, I will report to you, for I left my house and fled from my
woman's quarters. Restore me to yourself."
When he saw her in this state, he thought her worthy of his mercy. She had
many afflictions for having abandoned her house.
THE PROSTITUTION OF THE SOUL
Concerning the prostitution of the soul, the holy spirit prophesies in diverse
places. The prophet Jeremiah said,2
If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and takes another
man, can she ever go back to him? Has such a woman not utterly
defiled herself? "You have whored with many shepherds and you
returned to me," said the lord. "Lift up your eyes and see where
you went whoring. Were you not sitting in the streets defiling the
land with your whoring and vices? And you took many shep­herds
for a way of stumbling. You were shameless with everyone.
You did not call on me as a companion or father or author of
your virginity."
It is also written in the prophet Hosea,3
Come, go before the law with your mother, for she is not to be
my wife nor I her husband. I shall remove her whoring from my
presence and her adultery from between her breasts. I shall
make her naked as on the day she was born, and desolate like a
2. Jeremiah 3:1-4. The version in Coptic of this and the following biblical passages, having gone
through Hebrew and Greek, has changed substantially through the layers of transmission.
Throughout this text, the biblical and Homeric quotations have not been altered here to reflect
the source texts, since doing so would undermine the author's exegetical purpose.
3. Hosea 2:2-7.

417. 408 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
waterless land. I shall make her childless and long for children. I
shall show her children no pity, for they are children of prosti­tution,
their mother having whored and shamed her children.
She said, "I shall be a whore to my lovers. They gave me my
bread and water and garments and clothes and wine and oil
and everything I needed." Look, I shall shut them up so that she
will not be able to chase after her adulterers. When she seeks
them and doesn't find them, she will say, "I will go back to my
former husband, for then I was happier than now."
Again in Ezekiel he said,4
It happened that after much depravity, the lord said, "You built
yourself a brothel and made yourself a beautiful place in the
streets. You built whorehouses in every alley and you wasted
your beauty, you spread your legs in every alley, and multiplied
your acts of prostitution. You were a whore for the sons of Egypt,
those who are your neighbors, men great of flesh."
But what does "the sons of Egypt, men great of flesh" signify, if not the domain
of the flesh and the perceptible realm and the affairs of the earth by which the
soul is defiled here, receiving bread from them as well as wine, oil, clothing,
and the other external nonsense surrounding the body—whose things she
thinks she needs?
But as to this whoring, the messengers of the savior commanded,5 "Guard
and purify yourself against it," and not just the body's prostitution but espe­cially
the soul's. That is why the messengers write to the churches of god that
such whoring might not go on here.
Yet the greatest struggle is the prostitution of the soul. From it comes the
prostitution of the body. So Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said,6
I wrote in my letter, "Do not associate with whores," meaning
not the whores of the world or the greedy or thieves or idol wor­shipers,
since then you would have to leave the world.
Here he is speaking spiritually:7
4. Ezekiel 16:23-26.
5. See Acts 15:20, 29, 21:25; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Corinthians 6:18; 2 Corinthians 7:1.
6.1 Corinthians 5:9.
7. Ephesians 6:12.

418. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 409
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood—as he said—but
against the world rulers of this darkness and the spirits of evil.
BAPTISM OF THE SOUL
As long as the soul goes on running around everywhere sleeping with
whomever she meets and defiling herself, she will suffer her deserved punish­ment.
But when she perceives the troubles she is in, weeps before the father,
and repents, then the father will pity her and make her womb turn from the
external and turn inward again, and she will recover her proper character. It is
not like this for a woman. The body's womb is inside the body like the other
internal organs, but the soul's womb is turned to the outside like the male gen­italia,
which are external.
Therefore, when the womb of the soul, by the father's will, turns itself in­ward,
she is baptized and immediately cleansed of external pollution forced
upon her, just as dirty clothing is soaked in water and stirred until the dirt is
removed and it is clean. So the cleansing of the soul is to recover the freshness
of her former nature and to become as she was.
That is her baptism.
Then she will begin to rage at herself like a woman in labor, writhing and
screaming in the hour of delivery. But since she is female, she is powerless by
herself to inseminate a child. So the father sent her from heaven her man, her
brother, the firstborn. The bridegroom came down to the bride. She gave up
her former whoring and cleansed herself of the pollution of adulterers, and
she was renewed to be a bride. She cleansed herself in the bridal chamber. She
filled it with perfume and sat there waiting for the true groom. She no longer
goes about the marketplace, copulating with whomever she desires, but she
waits for him, saying, "When will he come?" And she feared him, not knowing
what he looked like. She no longer remembers, since she fell from her father's
house long ago.
She dreamed of him, by the father's will, like a woman in love with a man.
THE MARRIAGE
Then, by the will of the father, the bridegroom came down to her in the bridal
chamber, which had been prepared. And he decorated the chamber.
This marriage is not like carnal marriage, in which those who make love
with each other become satiated in their lovemaking. And as if it were a bur­den,
they leave behind the annoyance of physical desire. They turn their faces

419. 4io LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
from each other. In this marriage once they join they become a single life. As
the prophet said about the first man and woman,8
They will become a single flesh.
They were originally joined to each other when they were with the father,
before the woman led the man astray, who is her brother. This marriage brings
them together again, and the soul joins her true love and real master, as the
scriptures tell us9:
The woman's master is her husband.
Then gradually she recognized him and was again happy, weeping before
him as she remembered the disgrace of her former widowhood. She adorned
herself abundantly so he might be pleased to stay with her.
And the prophet said in the Psalms,10
Hear, my daughter, and see me and bend your ear, and forget
your people and your father's house, for the king has desired
your beauty, and he is your lord.
He has her turn her face from her people and the gang of her adulterers
with whom she had mingled, to devote herself now to her king, her real lord,
and to forget the house of the earthly father with whom things were bad for
her, and remember her father in heaven. So Abraham was told,11
Leave your country and kin and your father's house.
REGENERATION OF THE SOUL
When the soul had adorned herself again in her beauty, she enjoyed her
beloved. He also loved her. And when they made love, she got from him the
seed which is the life-giving spirit. By him she has good children and brings
them up. Such is the great and perfect marvel of birth. This marriage is made
perfect by the will of the father.
Now, it is right that the soul be regenerated and be as she formerly was. The
soul stirred. Her divine nature and her rejuvenation came from her father so
she might return to where she was before. This is resurrection from the dead.
8. Genesis 2:24.
9. See Genesis 3:16; 1 Corinthians 11:1; Ephesians 5:23.
10. Psalm 45:10—11.
11. Genesis 12:1.

420. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 411
This is ransom from captivity. This is the ascent to heaven. This is the ascent
to the father. As the prophet said,12
Praise the lord, O my soul and all within me, praise his holy
name. O my soul, praise god, who forgave all your sins, who
healed all your sicknesses, who ransomed your life from death,
who crowned you with mercy, who satisfies your longing for
good things. Your youth will be renewed like the eagle's.
When she becomes young again she will rise, praising the father and her
brother who rescued her. Through rebirth the soul will be saved. And salva­tion
will not be because of rote phrases or professional skills or learned books.
Rather, it will come from the grace and gift of the merciful god. Such is the
heavenly way. So the savior cries out,13
No one can come unless my father draws him and brings him to
me. I myself will raise him on the last day.
PRAYING FROM THE SOUL
So it is right to pray to the father and to call on him with our soul—not exter­nally
with our lips but with the spirit, which is inside and comes from the
depths, sighing, repenting for the life we led, confessing sins, recognizing
the deception we were in as shallow; perceiving the empty zeal; weeping over
how we lived in darkness and in the wave; mourning for what we were so that
he might pity us; hating ourselves for what we still are.
The savior said,14
Blessings on those who mourn, for they will be pitied. Blessings
on the hungry, for they will be filled.
And he said,15
If one does not hate one's own soul, one cannot follow me.
The beginning of salvation is repentance. So it says,16
Before Jesus came John, preaching the baptism of repentance.
12. Psalm 103:1-5.
13- John 6:44.
14- Matthew 5:4, 6; Luke 6:21.
15- Luke 14:26.
16. Acts 13:24.

421. 412 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
And repentance occurs in distress and sorrow. The father is good and loves
humankind, and hears the soul that calls him and sends her the light of salva­tion.
Through the spirit to the prophet he says,17
Say to the children of my people, "If your sins extend from earth
to heaven, if they become red like scarlet and blacker than sack­cloth,
and if you return to me with all your soul and say to me,
'My father,' I will care for you as for a holy people."
Again elsewhere,18
So the lord, the holy one of Israel, says, "If you return and sigh,
then you will be saved and will know where you were when you
trusted what is shallow."
And again, 19
Jerusalem wept profusely, saying, "Pity me." He will have pity at
the sound of your lamentation. And when he saw, he cared for
you. And the lord will give you the bread of affliction and water
of oppression. From now on those who deceive will not go near
you. Your eye will spot those who would deceive you.
THE REPENTANCE OF ODYSSEUS AND HELEN
So it is right to pray to god night and day, extending our hands toward him as
do people sailing in the middle of the sea. They pray to god with all their heart
and without hypocrisy. Those who pray hypocritically fool only themselves.
Yes, it is to know who is worthy of salvation that god examines our inner selves
and the bottom of our heart. No one is worthy of salvation who still loves the
place of deception. So the poet writes,20
Odysseus sat on the island weeping and grieving and turning his
face from the words of Calypso and from her tricks, while long­ing
to see his village and smoke coming forth from it. Had he not
17. See 1 Clement 8:3.
18. Isaiah 30:15.
19. Isaiah 30:19-20.
20. Homer, Odyssey 1.48-59. The quotations from Homer are not exact quotations from a spe­cific
passage but a hodgepodge summary from diverse places, altered both for sermonizing
purposes and by the process of translation.

422. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 413
received help from heaven, he would not have been able to re­turn
to his village.
Again Helen says,21
My heart turned away from myself. I want to return to my own
house.
She sighed, saying,22
Aphrodite deceived me and brought me out of my village. My
only daughter I left behind me as well as my good, understand­ing,
and handsome husband.
When the soul leaves her perfect husband because of the treachery of
Aphrodite, who exists here in the act of conception, then the soul will suffer
harm. But if she sighs and repents, she will be restored to her house.
THE REPENTANCE OF ISRAEL
Israel surely would not have been visited by god and brought out of the land
of Egypt and the house of bondage if it had not sighed to god and wept about
its oppressive labors. Again in the Psalms it is written,23
I was greatly troubled in my groaning. I will bathe my bed and
my cover each night with my tears. I have become old in the
midst of all my enemies. Depart from me, all you who work at
lawlessness, for look, the lord has heard the cry of my weeping
and the lord has heard my prayer.
If we repent, truly god will heed us, he who is long-suffering and abun­dantly
merciful, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen.
21. Odyssey 4.260-61.
22. Odyssey 4.261-64.
23. Psalm 6:6-9.

423. 27
On the Origin
of the World
n the Origin of the World is a gnostic treatise that offers ex­planations
of key gnostic themes, particularly themes having
to do with first things, last things, and hidden things.
O
On the Origin of the World appears in the Nag Hammadi library, Codex II,
immediately after the Sethian text Reality of the Rulers, the text it most closely
resembles. The parallels between the two texts are extensive. On the Origin of
the World reflects many of the Sethian gnostic themes found in other Sethian
texts as well, but the present text is not easily classified as Sethian. Sometimes
it seems Sethian, sometimes Valentinian, sometimes Manichaean. It always is,
in some sense, gnostic.
On the Origin of the World opens with a philosophical issue that sounds
disarmingly modern in its formulation: What, if anything, existed prior to the
original chaos, the primal ooze, the beginning as described in Genesis 1 and
other ancient Middle Eastern creation myths? On the Origin of the World
seeks to demonstrate that before chaos was the root of chaos, the infinite.
The plot that unfolds in the text features the creative and salvific roles of
Sophia and her mother, Pistis (faith). The daughter is also called Sophia Zoe
(life) or simply Zoe, the mother Pistis Sophia. From Pistis Sophia, in a manner

424. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 415
recalling childbirth, emerges the demiurge Yaldabaoth, who is expelled, the
text emphasizes, like an aborted fetus (as in an interpretation of the Secret
Book of John). He establishes his kingdom of chaos, complete with the pow­ers
of the world, and brags that he is god alone. Of course he is wrong, and one
of his sons, Sabaoth by name, is exalted above him with Sophia in the seventh
heaven, where he proceeds to create an assembly of angels, a firstborn named
Israel, and Jesus the anointed. Father Yaldabaoth, in turn, counters by creating
death. Thus unfolds the gloomy process of mortal dissolution in the cosmos,
of life leading inexorably to death.
This story, familiar from other gnostic accounts of the creation of the
world and people in the world, is told with reference to the opening chapters
of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible. In a manner that recalls the Secret Book of
John and the three divisions of humankind in Valentinian texts, Adam is un­derstood
in three ways, as spiritual Adam, psychical Adam, and earthly Adam.
Also inserted into the account are asides on Eros, the Greek god of love, along
with Psyche (soul), lover of Eros, and Egyptian phoenixes, water animals, and
bulls, and all of these are part of the gnostic cosmology. Innocent spirits come
to awaken people to gnosis, as does Jesus, so that finally the powers of the
present age will collapse, and light and life will triumph. As the text concludes,
"it is necessary that everyone enter the place from which he has come. For
each one by his deeds and his gnosis will reveal his nature."
On the Origin of the World is untitled in the manuscripts that have
survived, but the present descriptive title is often used. The text was almost
certainly written in Greek before being translated into Coptic. Hans-Gebhard
Bethge suggests, "The work was probably composed in Alexandria at the end
of the third century A.D. or beginning of the fourth."1 The text is in a learned,
even scholarly style and contains etymological and bibliographical references.
Most of the works cited in the text are unknown to us. Exceptions to this may
include books of Noraia (or Oraia), which may refer to the Thought of Norea
in the Nag Hammadi library, Codex IX,2, and the Archangelic Book of the
Prophet Moses, which may refer to a text from the Greek magical papyri.
1. Hans-Gebhard Bethge in Layton, Nag Hammadi Codex 11,2-7,2.12.

425. 416 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM.
ON THE ORIGIN
OF THE WORLD2
BEFORE THE BEGINNING
Since everyone—the gods of the world and people—says that nothing existed
prior to chaos, I shall demonstrate that they all are mistaken, since they do not
know the origin of chaos and its root. Here is the demonstration.
How agreeable it is to all people to say that chaos is darkness! But actually
chaos comes from a shadow that has been called darkness. The shadow comes
from something existing from the beginning. So it is obvious that something
in the beginning existed before chaos came into being, and that chaos came
after what was in the beginning.3
Now let us consider the facts of the matter, and in particular what was in
the beginning, from which chaos came. In this way the truth will be clearly
demonstrated.
BIRTH OF SOPHIA AND THE FORCES OF
DARKNESS
After the nature of the immortals was completed out of the infinite one,4 then
a likeness called Sophia5 flowed out of Pistis,6 with the wish7 that something
should come into being like the light that first existed. Immediately her wish
appeared as a heavenly likeness with an incomprehensible greatness. This
2. On the Origin of the World is preserved in Nag Hammadi library, Codex 11,5 PP- 97>24 to
127,17. A portion of the text is also preserved in the Oeyen fragments (British Library Oriental
Manuscript 4927U]) and in a fragment of Nag Hammadi library, Codex XIII. On the Origin of
the World has been translated by Hans-Gebhard Bethge and Orval S. Wintermute (Robinson,
Nag Hammadi Library in English, 1st ed., 161-79), and by Hans-Gebhard Bethge, Bentley Lay-ton,
and the Societas Coptica Hierosolymitana (Robinson, Nag Hammadi Library in English,
rev. ed., 170-89); revised by Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer.
3. In other words, something existed before the primordial chaos (see Genesis 1:1-2). That is
the infinite one, the source of all.
4. The infinite one recalls the One (monad) in the Secret Book of John and other gnostic texts.
5. Wisdom, also known as Sophia Zoe, wisdom life, the daughter of Pistis Sophia.
6. Faith, also known as Pistis Sophia, faith wisdom, the mother of Sophia Zoe.
7. The wish is most likely that of Sophia, the likeness that appeared.

426. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 417
came between the immortals and those who came into being after them, like
what is above. It was a veil separating people from the things above.8
Now, the eternal realm of truth has no shadow within it because the im­measurable
light is everywhere within it. Outside it, however, is a shadow, and
it was called darkness.9 From it appeared a power over the darkness. And the
powers that came into being afterward called the shadow the limitless chaos.
From it every kind of deity was brought forth, one after another, along with
the whole place. Consequently, the shadow too is subsequent to what was in
the beginning. The shadow appeared in the abyss, which is derived from Pis­tis,
whom we have mentioned.
The shadow perceived that there was one stronger than it.10 It was jealous,
and when it became self-impregnated, it immediately bore envy. Since that
day the principle of envy has appeared in all of the aeons and their worlds. But
envy was found to be an aborted fetus without any spirit in it. It became like
the shadows in a great watery substance.
Then the bitter wrath that came into being from the shadow was cast into
a region of chaos. Since that day a watery substance has appeared. What was
enclosed in the shadow flowed forth, appearing in chaos. Just as all the useless
afterbirth of one who bears a little child falls, likewise the matter that came
into being from the shadow was cast aside. Matter did not come out of chaos,
but it was in chaos, existing in a part of it.
YALDABAOTH ESTABLISHES HIS RULE
Now, after these things happened, Pistis came and appeared over the matter of
chaos, which was cast off like an aborted fetus, since there was no spirit in it.
For all of that is a boundless darkness and water of unfathomable depth. And
when Pistis saw what came into being from her deficiency, she was disturbed.
And the disturbance appeared as something frightful, and it fled to her in the
chaos. She turned to it and breathed into its face in the abyss, which is beneath
all of the heavens.
8. A similar veil is mentioned in the Gospel of Philip, and limit (hows) functions as a <
boundary in Valentinian thought in general. The concept of the region of the middle,
the immortal and mortal realms, is also common in gnostic texts.
9."The infinite is all light, and outside is shadow, darkness.
10. This account resembles features of the story of the fall of Sophia and the birth of tl
urge in other gnostic accounts.

427. 418 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Now, when Pistis Sophia wanted to cause the thing that had no spirit to be
formed into a likeness and rule over matter and over all its powers,11 a ruler
first appeared out of the waters, lionlike in appearance, androgynous, with
great authority within himself but ignorant of whence he came into being.12
When Pistis Sophia saw him moving in the depth of the waters, she said to
him, "Youth, pass over here," which is interpreted as "Yaldabaoth."13 Since that
day, the first principle of the word that referred to the gods and angels and
people has appeared. And the gods and angels and people constitute that
which came into being by means of the word. Moreover, the ruler Yaldabaoth
is ignorant of the power of Pistis. He did not see her face, but he saw in the
water the likeness that spoke with him. And from that voice he called himself
Yaldabaoth. But the perfect ones call him Ariael because he was like a lion.14
And after he came to possess authority over matter, Pistis Sophia withdrew up
to her light.
YALDABAOTH CREATES HEAVEN AND EARTH
AND BEARS THREE SONS
When the ruler saw his greatness, he saw only himself; he saw nothing else, ex­cept
water and darkness. Then he thought that he alone existed. His thought
was made complete by means of the word, and it appeared as a spirit moving
to and fro over the waters.15 And when that spirit appeared, the ruler sepa­rated
the watery substance to one region and the dry substance to another re­gion.
From matter he created a dwelling place for himself and called it heaven.
And from matter the ruler created a footstool and called it earth.
Afterward the ruler thought, according to his nature, and he created an an­drogynous
being by means of the word. He opened his mouth and cooed to
him. When his eyes were opened, he saw his father and said to him, "Eee." So
his father called him Yao.16 Again he created the second son and cooed to him.
He opened his eyes and said to his father, "Eh." So his father called him Eloai.17
11. Or "her powers."
12. This is the inopportune birth of the creator of the world, Yaldabaoth.
13. On the names of the creator, see the Secret Book of John and the Reality of the Rulers (with
the notes) in this volume.
14. In Hebrew the name Ariel is commonly taken to mean "lion of god."
15. Here and throughout the text are parallels to the opening chapters of Genesis, as well as to
the Reality of the Rulers. Only a few will be noted.
16. A form of the ineffable divine name Yahweh. In Greek Yao is spelled Iao, hence the baby-talk
"Eee."
17. A name that resembles the Hebrew for god, El or Elohim.

428. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 419
Again he created the third son and cooed to him. He opened his eyes and said
to his father, "Asss." So his father called him Astaphaios. These are the three
sons of their father.
THE SEVEN HEAVENS OF CHAOS
Seven appeared in chaos as androgynous beings. They have their masculine
name and their feminine name. The feminine name of Yaldabaoth is fore­thought18
Sambathas,19 which is the week.20 His son is called Yao, and his fem­inine
name is lordship. Sabaoth's21 feminine name is divinity. Adonaios's
feminine name is kingship. Eloaios's feminine name is envy. Oraios's feminine
name is wealth. Astaphaios's feminine name is Sophia. These are the seven
powers of the seven heavens of chaos. And they came into being as androgy­nous
beings according to the immortal pattern that existed before them and
in accord with the will of Pistis, so that the likeness of what existed from the
first might rule until the end.
You will find the function of these names and the power of the males in
the Archangelic Book of Moses the Prophet.22 But the feminine names are
in the First Book of Noraia.23
Now since the chief creator24 Yaldabaoth had great authority, he created
for each of his sons, by means of the word, beautiful heavens as dwelling
places, and for each heaven great glories, seven times exquisite. Each one has
within his heaven thrones, dwelling places, and temples, as well as chariots and
spiritual virgins and their glories, looking up to an invisible realm, and also
armies of divine, lordly, angelic, and archangelic powers, myriads without
number, in order to serve.
The report concerning these you will find accurately in the First Account
of Noraia.
Now, they were completed in this way up to the sixth heaven, the one be­longing
to Sophia. And the heaven and its earth were disrupted by the trou­blemaker,
who was beneath all of them. The six heavens trembled, for the
18. Pronoia.
19. The name Sambathas resembles the Hebrew Shabbat or Sabbath.
20. This is the realm of seven, the hebdomad, the astronomical realm of the planets.
21. Sabaoth resembles the Hebrew for "hosts," as in "lord of hosts."
22. A text with this name is known from the Greek magical papyri.
23. This text recalls the Thought of Norea, Nag Hammadi library, Codex IX,2. Also note the
discussion of Norea in the Reality of the Rulers.
24. Greek archigenitor, here and throughout.

429. 420 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
powers of chaos knew25 who it was who disturbed the heaven beneath them.
And when Pistis knew of the harm caused by the troublemaker, she blew her
breath, and she bound him and cast him down to Tartaros.26
THE BOASTING OF YALDABAOTH
Since that day, the heaven has been consolidated along with its earth by means
of Sophia, the daughter of Yaldabaoth, who is beneath them all.27 After the
heavens and their powers and all of their government set themselves aright,
the chief creator exalted himself and was glorified by the whole army of an­gels.
And all the gods and their angels gave him praise and glory.
And he rejoiced in his heart, and he boasted continually, saying to them, "I
do not need anything. I am god and there is no other god but me."28 But when
he said these things, he sinned against all of the immortal imperishable ones,
and they kept their eyes on him.
Moreover, when Pistis saw the impiety of the chief ruler, she was angry.
Without being seen, she said, "You're wrong, Samael," that is, "blind god."29
"An enlightened, immortal human exists before you and will appear within
your fashioned bodies.30 The human will trample upon you as potter's clay is
trampled. And you will go with those who are yours down to your mother, the
abyss. For in the consummation of your works, all of the deficiency that ap­peared
in the truth will be dissolved. It will cease, and it will be like something
that never existed."
After Pistis said these things, she revealed the likeness of her greatness in
the waters. And so she withdrew up to her light.
SABAOTH WORSHIPS PISTIS
When Sabaoth, the son of Yaldabaoth, heard the voice of Pistis, he worshiped
her. He condemned his father and mother.31 on account of the word of
25. Or emend to "knew not."
26. The underworld, the realm of the dead, hell.
27. This is the lower Sophia, one of the seven offspring of Yaldabaoth (see above).
28. Isaiah 45:5-6, 21; 46:9.
29. Samael also figures prominently in the Secret Book of John and the Reality of the Rulers.
30. The immortal human recalls the first human, or Geradamas (heavenly Adam), in the Secret
Book of John and elsewhere.
31. Partially restored; see Hans-Martin Schenke in Layton, Nag Hammadi Codex 11,2-7, 2.42.

430. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 421
Pistis. He glorified her because she informed them of an immortal human
and the light of the human. Then Pistis Sophia stretched forth her finger and
poured upon him light from her light for a condemnation of his father.
When Sabaoth received light, he received great authority against all of the
powers of chaos. Since that day he has been called "the lord of the powers."32
He hated his father, the darkness, and his mother, the abyss. He loathed his
sister, the thought of the chief creator, the one who moves to and fro over
the water.
On account of his light, all of the authorities of chaos were jealous of him.
And when they were disturbed, they made a great war in the seven heavens.
Then when Pistis Sophia saw the war, she sent seven archangels from her light
to Sabaoth. They snatched him away up to the seventh heaven.33 They took
their stand before him as servants. Furthermore, she sent him three other
archangels and established the kingdom for him above everyone so that he
might dwell above the twelve gods of chaos.
When Sabaoth received the place of rest because of his repentance, Pistis
also gave him her daughter, Zoe,34 with great authority, so that she might in­form
him about everything that exists in the eighth heaven. And since he had
authority, he first created a dwelling place for himself. It is huge, magnificent,
seven times as great as all those that exist in the seven heavens.
Then in front of his dwelling place he created a great throne on a chariot
with four faces, called cherubim.35 And the cherubim throne has eight shapes
on each side of the four corners—forms of lions and bulls and humans and
eagles—so that all of the forms total sixty-four forms. And seven archangels
stand before him. He is the eighth, having authority. All of the forms total sev­enty-
two. For from this chariot the seventy-two gods took shape; they took
shape so that they might rule over the seventy-two languages of the nations.36
And by that throne he created other dragon-shaped angels called seraphim,
who glorify him continually.
32. Or "lord of hosts," for Yahweh Sabaoth.
33. Sabaoth assumes a place above his father, Yaldabaoth, in the seventh heaven.
34. Life, exalted Eve.
35. The Hebrew word cherubim designates angels who are around the throne-chariot of god
(often called the merkavah).
36. Seventy-two is a traditional number of nations in the world.

431. 422 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
SABAOTH CREATES AN ASSEMBLY WITH
JESUS AND THE VIRGIN
Afterward he created an angelic assembly37—thousands, myriads without
number belong to it—that was like the assembly in the eighth heaven,38 and a
first-born called Israel, that is, the one who sees god, and also another called
Jesus Christ, who is like the savior above in the eighth heaven and who sits at
his right upon an excellent throne. But at his left the virgin of the holy spirit
sits upon a throne praising him. And the seven virgins stand before her, with
thirty lyres and harps and trumpets in their hands, glorifying him.39 And all of
the armies of angels glorify him and praise him. But he sits on a throne con­cealed
by a great light-cloud. And there was no one with him in the cloud ex­cept
Sophia, the daughter of Pistis, teaching him about all those that exist in
the eighth heaven, so that the likeness of those might be created, in order that
his kingdom might continue until the consummation of the heavens of chaos
and their powers.
Now, Pistis Sophia separated him from the darkness and summoned him
to her right, but the chief creator she put at her left. Since that day right has
been called justice, but left has been called injustice. Moreover, because of this
they all received a realm in the assembly of justice, and injustice is set over all
their creations.40
YALDABAOTH RETALIATES BY CREATING DEATH
When the chief creator of chaos saw his son Sabaoth, and that the glory in
which he dwells is more exquisite than all the authorities of chaos, he was jeal­ous
of him. And when he was angry, he conceived death from his own death.41
It was set up over the sixth heaven; Sabaoth had been snatched away from
there. And thus the number of the six authorities of chaos was completed.
37. Or "congregation," "church," here and below.
38. The eighth heaven is the realm of light above and is commonly identified with the astro­nomical
realm of the stars (the ogdoad).
39. Possibly emend to read "while thirty others, with lyres and harps and trumpets in their
hands, glorify him."
40. The meaning of this sentence is unclear. Possibly read the last clause as "where they all
stand upon their foundations" (Layton, NagHammadi Codex 11,2-7, 2.47).
41. Death is a son of Yaldabaoth to replace Sabaoth.

432. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 4^3
Then, since death was androgynous, he mixed with his nature and con­ceived
seven androgynous children.42 These are the names of the males: envy,
wrath, weeping, sighing, mourning, lamenting, tearful groaning. And these
are the names of the females: wrath, grief, lust, sighing, cursing, bitterness,
quarrelsomeness. They had intercourse with one another, and each one con­ceived
seven, so that the children total forty-nine androgynous demons.
Their names and their functions you will find in the Book of Solomon.43
In the presence of these, Zoe, who dwells with Sabaoth, created seven good
androgynous powers.44 These are the names of the males: not-jealous, blessed,
joyful, true, not-envious, beloved, trustworthy. And these are the names of the
females: peace, gladness, rejoicing, blessedness, truth, love, faith. And many
good and guileless spirits come from these.
Their accomplishments and their functions you will find in the Configu­rations
of the Fate of Heaven beneath the Twelve.45
YALDABAOTH REALIZES HIS MISTAKE
But when the chief creator saw the likeness of Pistis in the waters,46 he
grieved, especially when he heard her voice, which was like the first voice that
called to him out of the water. When he knew that this was the one who
named him, he groaned and was ashamed on account of his transgression.
And when he actually knew that an enlightened, immortal human existed
before him, he was greatly disturbed, because previously he had said to all
the gods and their angels, "I am god and there is no other god but me."
For he had been afraid that they might know that another existed before
him and condemn him. But he, like a fool, despised the condemnation and
acted recklessly, and said, "If something exists before me, let it appear so that
we might see its light." And immediately, look, light came out of the eighth
heaven above and passed through all the heavens of the earth.
When the chief creator saw that the light was beautiful as it shone forth,
he was amazed and very much ashamed. When the light appeared, a human
42. Death is the source of much of the grief in the world.
43. The precise identity of this source is unknown. Several known texts are attributed to
Solomon, such as the Testament of Solomon, with its discussion of how Solomon built the
temple with the help of the demons.
44. Zoe (life) counters. She is the source of much of the good in the world.
45. This source is unknown.
46. On the image or likeness of god in the waters, see Genesis 1:26 and gnostic interpretations.

433. 424 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
likeness, which was very wonderful, was revealed within it; and no one saw it
except the chief creator alone and the forethought47 who was with him. But
its light appeared to all the powers of the heavens. Therefore they were all dis­turbed
by it.
ADAM OF LIGHT SHINES FORTH
Then when forethought saw the messenger,48 she became enamored of
him, but he hated her because she was in darkness. Moreover, she desired
to embrace him, but she was not able. When she was unable to quench her
love, she poured out her light upon the earth. From that day, that messenger
was called Adam of light, which is interpreted the enlightened man of
blood.49 And the earth upon which the light spread was called50 holy
Adamas, which is interpreted as "the holy steel-like earth." At that time, all
the authorities began to honor the blood of the virgin, and the earth was pu­rified
because of the blood of the virgin. But especially the water was purified
by the likeness of Pistis Sophia, who appeared to the chief creator in the wa­ters.
Rightly, then, has it been said, "through the waters."51 Since the holy
water gives life to everything, it purifies it too.
EROS AND PSYCHE
Out of this first blood Eros appeared, being androgynous. His masculine na­ture
is Himeros, because he is fire from the light.52 His feminine nature is
that of a soul of blood and is derived from the substance of forethought. He
is very handsome in his beauty, having more loveliness than all the creatures
of chaos. Then when all the gods and their angels saw Eros, they became en­amored
of him. But when he appeared among all of them, he made them in­flamed.
Just as many lamps are kindled from a single lamp and the light
shines but the lamp is not diminished, so also Eros was scattered in all the
creatures of chaos but was not diminished. Just as Eros appeared out of the
47. Pronoia.
48. Or "angel."
49. This etymology may relate the name Adam to the Hebrew word dam, "blood."
50. Partially emended. Without emendation, the passage reads, "the earth spread over him."
51. This reference to the waters recalls Genesis 1:26 and gnostic interpretations of the appear­ance
of the divine through the waters.
52. Eros is the Greek god of love, and Himeros is the related god of desire.

434. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 425
midpoint between light and darkness, and in the midst of the angels and
people the intercourse of Eros was consummated, so too the first sensual
pleasure sprouted upon the earth.
The woman followed the earth, and marriage followed the woman, and re­production
followed marriage, and death followed reproduction.
After Eros, the grapevine sprouted up from the blood that was shed upon
the earth. Therefore those who drink the vine acquire the desire for inter­course.
53 After the grapevine, a fig tree and a pomegranate tree sprouted up
from the earth, together with the rest of the trees, according to their kind, their
seed deriving from the seed of the authorities and their angels.
THE CREATION OF PARADISE
Then justice created the beautiful paradise. It is outside the circuit of the
moon and the circuit of the sun in the luxuriant earth, which is in the east in
the midst of stones. And desire is in the midst of trees, since they are beautiful
and appealing. And the tree of immortal life, as it was revealed by the will of
god, is in the north of paradise to give life to the immortal saints, who will
come out of the fashioned bodies of poverty in the consummation of the age.
Now, the color of the tree of life is like the sun, and its branches are beautiful.
Its leaves are like those of the cypress, and its fruit is like clusters of white
grapes. Its height rises up to heaven. And next to it is the tree of knowledge,
possessing the power of god. Its glory is like the moon shining forth brilliantly,
and its branches are beautiful. Its leaves are like fig leaves, and its fruit is like
good, delicious dates. And this tree is in the north of paradise to raise up the
souls from the stupor of the demons, so they might come to the tree of life and
eat its fruit and condemn the authorities and their angels.
The effect of this tree is described in the Holy Book as follows:54
You are the tree of knowledge, which is in paradise, from which
the first man ate and which opened his mind, so that he loved his
female partner, and condemned other alien likenesses, and
loathed them.
53. Greek literature has discussions of the connection between Eros and Dionysos, that is, be­tween
love and wine, as in Achilles Tatius, The Adventures ofLeucippe and Clitophon.
54. The source of this quotation is unknown.

435. 426 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Now, after this there sprouted up the olive tree, which was to purify kings
and chief priests of justice, who will appear in the last days. The olive tree ap­peared
in the light of the first Adam for the sake of the anointing that they
will receive.
THE CREATION OF PLANTS, ANIMALS, AND
HEAVENLY ORBS
But the first Psyche55 loved Eros, who was with her, and poured her blood
upon him and upon the earth. Then from that blood the first rose sprouted
upon the earth out of the thorn bush, for a joy in the light that was to appear
in the bramble. After this the beautiful, fragrant flowers sprouted up from
the earth according to their kind from the blood of each of the virgins of the
daughters of forethought. When they had become enamored of Eros, they
poured out their blood upon him and upon the earth. After these things every
herb sprouted up in the earth according to its kind, having the seed of the au­thorities
and their angels. After these things the authorities created from the
waters all species of beasts and reptiles and birds according to their kind,
having the seed of the authorities and their angels.
But before all these things, when Adam of light appeared on the first day,
he remained upon the earth about two days. He left the lower forethought in
heaven and began to ascend to his light. And immediately darkness came
upon the whole world. Now, when Sophia, who is in the lower heaven,56
wanted to receive authority from Pistis, she created great luminaries and all
the stars, and put them in the heaven to shine upon the earth and to perfect
chronological signs and seasons and years and months and days and nights
and seconds, and so on. And thus everything up in the sky was ordered.
Now, when Adam of light wanted to enter his light, that is, the eighth
heaven, he was unable because of the poverty that had mixed with his light.
Then he created a great eternal realm for himself; in that eternal realm he
created six realms and their worlds, six in number, which are seven times bet­ter
than the heavens of chaos and their worlds. But all these realms and their
worlds exist within the infinite region that is between the eighth and chaos
beneath it, and they are reckoned with the world that belongs to the poverty.
55. Soul. The story of the soul (Psyche) and Eros (love) is told in the literature of antiquity and
late antiquity. For gnostic versions of the myth of the soul, see the Song of the Pearl and the Ex­egesis
on the Soul in this volume.
56. The lower Sophia.

436. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 427
If you wish to know the arrangement of these, you will find it written in the
Seventh Cosmos of Hieralias the Prophet.57
THE CREATION OF HUMANKIND
Before Adam of light withdrew in the chaos, the authorities saw him. They
laughed at the chief creator because he lied, saying, "I am god and there is no
other god but me." When they came to him, they said, "Is this not the god who
ruined our work?" He answered and said, "Yes, but if you wish that he not be
able to ruin our work, come, let's create a human being from the earth ac­cording
to the image of our body and according to the likeness of this being,58
to serve us, so that whenever this being sees his likeness, he may become en­amored
of it. Then he will no longer ruin our work, but we shall make those
who are born from the light our servants through all the time of this age."
Now, all this came to pass according to the forethought of Pistis in order
that humankind might appear after this likeness and condemn them on ac­count
of their fashioned bodies. And their fashioned bodies became fences for
the light.59
Then the authorities received knowledge necessary to create people.
Sophia Zoe, who is with Sabaoth, anticipated them and laughed at their deci­sion
because they were blind—in ignorance they created him against them­selves.
They do not know what they do. Because of this she anticipated
them. She created her human being first in order that he might tell their
fashioned body how to scorn them and thus to escape them.
Now, the birth of the instructor occurred in this way.60 When Sophia let a
drop of light fall, it floated on the water. Immediately a human being ap­peared,
being androgynous. She molded that drop first as a female body. Af­terward
she molded it, with the body, in the likeness of the mother who
appeared, and she finished it in twelve months. An androgynous human being
was conceived, whom the Greeks call Hermaphrodite,61 while the Jews call his
mother Eve of life, that is, the instructor of life. Her child is the creature who
is lord. Afterward, the authorities called it the beast in order to lead their fash­ioned
bodies astray. The meaning of the beast is the instructor, for it was
57. Another unknown source.
58. Adam of light.
59- That is, the light is trapped within human bodies.
60. As in the Reality of the Rulers, the snake in paradise is the instructor of Adam and Eve.
61. That is, an androgynous, male-female being.

437. 428 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
found to be wiser than all beings. Moreover, Eve is the first virgin who gave
birth without a man. She is the one who functioned as her own midwife.
SONG OF EVE
On account of this it is said concerning her that she said,
I am part of my mother, and I am the mother.
I am the wife, I am the virgin.
I am pregnant. I am the midwife.
I am the one who comforts during labor pains.
My husband produced me, and I am his mother,
and he is my father and my lord.
He is my potency; what he desires he speaks with reason.
I am becoming, but I have borne a lordly man.62
Now these things were revealed by the will of Sabaoth and his Christ to the
souls who will come to the fashioned bodies of the authorities.63 Concerning
these the holy voice said, "Multiply and flourish to rule over all the crea­tures."
64 And these are the ones who are taken captive by the chief creator ac­cording
to their destinies, and thus they were locked in the prisons of the
fashioned bodies until the consummation of the age.
THE COSMIC RULERS MOLD ADAM
At that time the chief creator then expressed his opinion about humankind to
those who were with him. Then each of them cast his seed65 into the midst of
the navel of the earth. Since that day, the seven rulers have formed humankind
with his body like their body, but his likeness is like the human who appeared
to them. His fashioned body came into being one part at a time, and their
chief created the brain and nervous system. Afterward the person appeared
like the one before him.66 He became a person with soul,67 and he was called
Adam, that is, father, after the name of the one who was before him.
62. The song of Eve resembles lines from the Sethian text Thunder in this volume.
63. This sentence is rearranged and restored.
64. Genesis 1:28.
65. Or "semen," here and below.
66. The meaning is uncertain. Perhaps the sentence means to indicate that the earthly Adam
resembles Adam of light.
67. That is, a psychical person.

438. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 429
Now, after Adam was made, he68 left him as a lifeless vessel, since he had
taken form like an aborted fetus, with no spirit in him. Regarding this, when
the chief ruler remembered the word of Pistis, he was afraid that the true
human might come into his fashioned body and rule over it. Because of this,
he left this fashioned body forty days without soul. And he withdrew and
left him.
But on the fortieth day Sophia Zoe sent her breath into Adam, who was
without soul. He began to move upon the earth, but he could not stand up.69
Now, when the seven rulers came and saw him, they were very much dis­turbed.
They walked up to him and seized him, and the chief ruler said to the
breath within him, "Who are you? And from where have you come here?" It
answered and said, "I came through the power of the human for the destruc­tion
of your work." When they heard, they glorified him because he gave them
rest from their fear and concern. Then they called that day the day of rest,70
because they rested themselves from their troubles. And when they saw that
Adam could not stand up, they rejoiced. They took him and left him in para­dise
and withdrew up to their heavens.
EVE GIVES ADAM LIFE
After the day of rest, Sophia sent Zoe, her daughter, who is called Eve, as an
instructor to raise up Adam, in whom there was no soul, so that those whom
he would produce might become vessels of the light. When Eve saw her male
partner cast down, she pitied him, and she said, "Adam, live! Rise up on the
earth!" Immediately her word became an accomplished deed. For when
Adam rose up, immediately he opened his eyes. When he saw her, he said,
"You will be called the mother of the living, because you are the one who
gave me life."71
THE COSMIC RULERS RAPE THE EARTHLY EVE
Then the authorities were informed that their fashioned body was alive, and
had risen, and they were very much disturbed. They sent seven archangels to
see what had happened. They came to Adam, and when they saw Eve speaking
68. The chief creator.
69. Adam is described in a similar state in the Secret Book of John and the Reality of the
Rulers.
70. The Sabbath day.
71. Genesis 3:20.

439. 430 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
with him, they said to one another, "What is this enlightened woman? For
truly she resembles the likeness that appeared to us in the light. Now come, let
us seize her and cast our seed into her, so that when she is polluted she will not
be able to ascend to her light, but those whom she bears will serve us. But let
us not tell Adam, because he is not from us. Rather, let us bring a stupor upon
him, and suggest to him in his sleep that she came into being from his rib, so
that the woman may serve and he may rule over her."72
Then Eve, since she existed as a power, laughed at their false intention. She
darkened their eyes and secretly left her likeness there with Adam. She entered
the tree of knowledge and remained there. They pursued her, and she revealed
to them that she had entered the tree and had become the tree. And when the
blind ones fell into a great fear, they ran away.73
Afterward, when they sobered up from the stupor, they came to Adam.
And when they saw the likeness of that woman with him, they were troubled,
thinking that this was the true Eve. And they acted recklessly, and came to her
and seized her and cast their seed upon her. They did it deceitfully, defiling
her not only naturally but also abominably, first defiling the seal of her voice,
which had spoken with them, saying, "What is it that exists before you?" They
meant to defile those who might say at the consummation of the age that
they had been born of a true human by means of the word. And they were de­ceived,
not knowing that they had defiled their own body. It was the likeness
that the authorities and their angels defiled in every way.
EVE BEARS THE CHILDREN OF
THE COSMIC POWERS
First Eve conceived Abel from the first ruler; and she bore the rest of the sons
from the seven authorities and their angels. Now, all this came to pass accord­ing
to the forethought of the chief creator, so that the first mother might bear
within herself every seed, mixed and joined together with the fate of the world
and its configurations and justice. A plan came into being because of Eve, so
that the fashioned bodies of the authorities might become fences for the light.
Then the light will condemn them through their fashioned bodies.
The first Adam of light is spiritual and appeared on the first day. The sec­ond
Adam is a person with soul and appeared on the sixth day, called
72. Genesis 2:21-22.
73. Eve's becoming a tree resembles the myth of Daphne changing into a laurel tree. See also
the Secret Book of John and the Reality of the Rulers.

440. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 431
Aphrodite.74 The third Adam is earthly, that is, a man of law, who appeared on
the eighth day, after the rest of poverty, which is called Sunday. Now, the prog­eny
of the earthly Adam multiplied and was completed and produced within
itself all the technical skill of the Adam with soul. But all were in ignorance.
THE TREES OF PARADISE AND THE BEAST
Next, let me continue. When the rulers saw him and the woman who was with
him erring in ignorance like beasts, they rejoiced greatly. When they learned
that an immortal human was not going to pass them by, but that they would
even have to fear the woman who had turned into a tree, they were troubled
and said, "Is this, perhaps, the true human, who blinded us and taught us
about this defiled woman who is like him, that we might be conquered?"
Then the seven took counsel. They came to Adam and Eve timidly, and
they said to him, "The fruit of every tree created for you in paradise may
be eaten, but beware, don't eat from the tree of knowledge. If you do eat,
you will die."75 After they gave them a great fright, they withdrew up to their
authorities.
Then came the one who is wiser than all creatures, who was called the
beast. When he saw the likeness of their mother, Eve, he said to her, "What is it
that god said to you? 'Don't eat from the tree of knowledge'?" She said, "He
said not only'Don't eat from it' but also 'Don't touch it, lest you die.'" He said
to her, "Don't be afraid! You certainly shall not die. For he knows that when
you eat from it your mind will be sobered and you will become like gods,
knowing the difference between evil and good people. For he said this to you
because he is jealous, so that you would not eat from it."76
Now, Eve believed the words of the instructor. She looked at the tree and
saw that it was beautiful and appealing, and she desired it. She took some of its
fruit and ate, and she gave to her husband also, and he ate too. Then their
minds opened. For when they ate, the light of knowledge shone for them.
When they put on shame, they knew that they were naked with regard to
knowledge. When they sobered up, they saw that they were naked, and they
became enamored of one another. When they saw that their makers had
beastly forms, they loathed them. They understood a great deal.
74. Or "Hermaphrodite."
75. Genesis 2:16-17.
76. Genesis 3:1-5. In the present text the serpent is the gnostic hero, since it understands
knowledge and the tree of knowledge.

441. 432 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
HAVE YOU EATEN FROM THE TREE?
Then when the rulers knew that Adam and Eve had transgressed their com­mandment,
they entered paradise and came to Adam and Eve in an earth­quake
and a great threat, to see the result of the help that was given.77 Then
Adam and Eve were very much disturbed and hid under the trees in para­dise.
The rulers did not know where they were and said, "Adam, where are
you?" He said, "I am here. But because of fear of you I hid after I became
ashamed." But they said to him, in ignorance, "Who is the one who spoke to
you of the shame that you put on—unless you ate from the tree?" He said,
"The woman whom you gave me, she is the one who gave to me, and I ate."
Then they said to that woman, "What is this you have done?" She answered
and said, "The instructor is the one who incited me, and I ate." Then the
rulers came to the instructor. Their eyes were blinded by him so they were
not able to do anything to him. They merely cursed him, since they were
powerless. Afterward they came to the woman, and they cursed her and her
offspring. After the woman they cursed Adam and the earth and the fruit be­cause
of him. And everything that they created they cursed. There is no
blessing from them. Good cannot come from evil.
Since that day the authorities knew that truly there was something
stronger than they. They would not have known except that their command­ment
was broken. They brought a great envy into the world only because of
the immortal human.78
Now, when the rulers saw that their Adam had acquired a different
knowledge, they wanted to test him. They gathered all the domestic animals
and wild beasts of the earth and the birds of the heaven, and brought them
to Adam to see what he would call them. When he saw them, he gave names
to their creatures. They were troubled because Adam had sobered up from all
ignorance.79 They gathered together and took counsel and said, "Look, Adam
has become like one of us, so that he understands the difference between
light and darkness. Now perhaps he will be deceived as with the tree of
knowledge and will come to the tree of life and eat from it and become im­mortal
and rule and condemn us and regard us and all our glory as folly. And
then he will pass judgment on us and the world. Come, let's cast him out of
77. This is the help offered by the instructor, the serpent, which resulted in knowledge.
78. See Genesis 3:6-19.
79. Or "all the trials."

442. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 433
paradise down to the earth, the place from where he was taken, so that he will
no longer be able to know anything better than we can." And so they cast
Adam and his wife out of paradise.
And what they had done did not satisfy them. Rather, they were still afraid.
They came to the tree of life and they set great terrors around it, fiery living
beings called cherubim; and they left a flaming sword in the midst, turning
continually with a great terror, so that no one from among earthly beings
might ever enter that place.80
After these things, when the rulers had become jealous of Adam, they
wanted to diminish the human lifetimes, but they were unable because of
fate, which was established since the beginning. For their lifetimes were de­termined:
for each of the people one thousand years according to the circuit
of the luminaries. But although the rulers were not able to do this, each of
the evildoers took away ten years. So all of the remaining time amounts to
nine hundred thirty years, and these are spent in grief and weakness and in
evil distractions. Thus life has gone, from that day until the consummation
of the age.81
PHOENIXES, WATER ANIMALS, BULLS OF EGYPT
Then when Sophia Zoe saw that the rulers of darkness cursed her compan­ions,
she was angry. And when she came out of the first heaven with every
power, she chased the rulers from their heavens, and she cast them down to
the sinful world, that they might dwell there as evil demons upon the earth.
She sent the bird that was in paradise so that, until the consummation of the
age, it might spend the thousand years in the rulers' world: a vital living being
with soul, called the phoenix, which kills itself and reanimates itself for a wit­ness
to their judgment, because they dealt unjustly with Adam and his race.
There are three human beings and their descendants in the world until the
consummation of the age: the spiritual and the psychical and the earthly. This
is like the three kinds of phoenixes of paradise: the first is immortal; the sec­ond
attains one thousand years; as for the third, it is written in the Holy Book
that it is consumed. Likewise three baptisms exist: the first is spiritual, the sec­ond
is by fire, the third is by water.
80. See Genesis 3:21-24.
81. As a punishment for enlightenment, the length of human life is diminished by
this world.

443. 434 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Just as the phoenix appears as a witness for the angels, so too the water ser­pents82
in Egypt have become a witness to those who go down for the baptism
of a true person. The two bulls in Egypt,83 insofar as they indicate the sun and
the moon as a mystery, exist for a witness to Sabaoth, that Sophia of the world
has been exalted above the sun and the moon, from the day when she created
them and sealed her heaven until the consummation of the age. And the worm
that is brought forth from the phoenix is also a human being. It is written of
it, "The just will sprout like the phoenix."84 The phoenix first appears alive,
and dies, and rises again, as a sign of what appears at the consummation of the
age. These great signs appeared only in Egypt, not in other lands, signifying
that it is like the paradise of god.
ERRORAND IGNORANCE
ENTER HUMAN HISTORY
Let us come back to the rulers of whom we spoke, that we might present an
explanation of them. For when the seven rulers were cast from their heavens
down upon the earth, they created for themselves angels, many demonic an­gels,
to serve them. But these demons taught humankind many errors with
magic and potions and idolatry, and shedding of blood, and altars, and tem­ples,
and sacrifices, and libations to all the demons of the earth, having as
their co-worker fate,85 who came into being according to the agreement by
the gods of injustice and justice. And thus when the world came into being, it
wandered astray in distraction throughout all time. For all the people who
are on the earth served the demons from the creation until the consumma­tion
of the age—both the angels of justice and the people of injustice. Thus
the world came to be in distraction and ignorance and stupor. They all erred,
until the appearance of the true human.
Enough for you to this point. Next we shall consider our world so that we
might complete the discussion of its structure and its government in a precise
manner. Then it will be clear how belief in hidden things, which have been ap­parent
from the foundation to the consummation of the age, came about.
82. Water hydria (Coptic, Greek), perhaps crocodiles, water serpents, or otters. See Layton, Nag
Hammadi Codex 11,2-7, 2.81.
83. The two bulls in Egypt are most likely Apis and Mnevis.
84. Psalm 91:13 in the Septuagint.
85. Greek heimarmene.

444. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 435
THE BLESSED INNOCENT SPIRITS
Now I come to the main points about immortal humankind. I shall explain
why the beings belonging to the immortal human are here. When a multi­tude
of people came into being through Adam, who was fashioned, and from
matter, and when the world was filled, the rulers reigned over it, that is to say,
they held it in ignorance. What is the cause? It is this. Since the immortal fa­ther
knows that deficiency of truth came into being among the eternal realms
and their worlds, when he wanted to bring to naught the rulers of destruc­tion
by means of their fashioned creatures, he sent your likenesses, namely,
the blessed little guileless spirits, down to the world of destruction.86 They
are not strangers to knowledge. For all knowledge is in an angel who appears
before them, who stands in front of the father and is not powerless to give
them knowledge. Immediately, whenever they appear in the world of
destruction, they will first reveal the pattern of incorruptibility for condem­nation
of the rulers and their powers. Moreover, when the blessed ones ap­peared
in the fashioned bodies of the authorities, they were envied. And
because of envy, the authorities mixed their seed with them to defile them,
but they were not able. Moreover, when the blessed ones appeared in their
light, they appeared distinctively. And each one of them from their land re­vealed
their knowledge to the assembly87 that appeared in the fashioned bod­ies
of destruction. The assembly was found to have every seed because of the
seed of the authorities that was mixed with it. Then the savior made all of
them one.88 And the spirits of these appeared, being superior and blessed but
varying in election, and many others are kingless and superior to everyone
who was before them. Consequently, four races exist. There are three that be­long
to the kings of the eighth heaven. But the fourth race is kingless and per­fect,
above them all. For these will enter into the holy place of their father,
and they will reside in rest, and eternal, ineffable glory, and ceaseless joy.
They are already kings, immortal within the mortal realm. They will pass
judgment on the gods of chaos and their powers.
86. These are spirits of light sent from the realm of light to enlighten gnostics in this world.
They appear as revealers, in flesh.
87. Or "church," here and below.
88. Partially restored.

445. 436 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
JESUS THE LOGOS
Now, the word,89 who is more exalted than anyone, was sent for this work
only, to announce what is unknown. He said, "There is nothing hidden that
will not appear, and what was unknown will be known."90 Now these were
sent so they might reveal what is hidden and expose the seven authorities of
chaos and their impiety. And they were condemned to be killed. So when all
the perfect ones appeared in the fashioned bodies of the rulers and revealed
incomparable truth, they put to shame every wisdom of the gods, and their
fate was discovered to be condemnable, their power dried up, their dominion
was destroyed, and their forethought and their glory became empty.
THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE
AND THE APOCALYPSE
Before the consummation of the age, the whole place will be shaken by great
thunder.91 Then the rulers will lament, crying out on account of their death.
The angels will mourn for their human beings, and the demons will weep for
their times and seasons, and their people will mourn and cry out on account
of their death. Then the age will begin, and they will be disturbed. Their
kings will be drunk from the flaming sword and will make war against one
another, so that the earth will be drunk from the blood that is poured out.
And the seas will be troubled by that war. Then the sun will darken and the
moon will lose its light. The stars of the heaven will disregard their course,
and great thunder will come out of great power that is above all the powers
of chaos, the place where the firmament of the woman92 is situated. When
she has created the first work, she will take off her wise flame of afterthought
and will put on irrational wrath. Then she will drive out the gods of chaos,
whom she had created together with the chief creator. She will cast them
down to the abyss. They will be wiped out by their own injustice. For they
will become like the mountains that blaze out fire,93 and they will consume
one another until they are destroyed by their chief creator. When he destroys
89. Logos.
90. Matthew 10:26; Mark 4:22; Luke 8:17; 12:2; Gospel of Thomas 5,6.
91. Apocalyptic signs precede the consummation of the age.
92. Pistis Sophia.
93. Volcanoes.

446. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 437
them, he will turn against himself and destroy himself until he ceases to be.
And their heavens will fall upon one another and their powers will burn.
Their realms will also be overthrown. And the chief creator's heaven will fall
and split in two. Likewise, his stars in their sphere will fall down to the earth,
and the earth will not be able to support them.94 They will fall down to the
abyss, and the abyss will be overthrown.
THE LIGHT IS SAVED AND
GNOSTICS RETURN HOME
The light will cover the darkness and obliterate it. It will become like some­thing
that never existed. And the source of the darkness will be dissolved. The
deficiency will be plucked out at its root and thrown down to the darkness.
And the light will withdraw up to its root, and the glory of the unconceived
will appear, and it will fill all the eternal realms, when the prophetic utterances
and the writings of those who are rulers95 are revealed and are fulfilled by
those who are called perfect. Those who were not perfected in the uncon­ceived
father will receive their glories in their realms and in the kingdoms of
immortals. But they will not ever enter the kingless realm.96
For it is necessary that everyone enter the place from which he has come.
Each one by his deeds and his gnosis will reveal his nature.
94. Partly restored.
95. The prophets and writings may designate books of the Hebrew Bible.
96. In the end, light will obliterate darkness, the aeons will be filled with light, and the glory of
the unconceived will be perfected. The text suggests that many, if not all, will be saved, though
there are different levels of final bliss.

447. 28
The Paraphrase
of Shem
I he Paraphrase of Shem is a difficult, confusing, and fascinating
I gnostic text about the origin of the world and the salvation of
JL. the people of Shem in the world. The document defies any obvi­ous
classification: though gnostic, it shares few features with other Sethian
literature and may be closer, in some respects, to Manichaean literature and
Manichaean themes. The title relates both to the entire text and to a later
specific portion of the text that refers to itself as a paraphrase and explains
names used in a litany. The title is similar to the Paraphrase of Seth men­tioned
by Hippolytus of Rome,1 and the two texts share certain features, such
as the conviction that everything originates from three primal powers. As
Hippolytus presents the Paraphrase of Seth, however, it is a clearly Christian
text that has more differences than similarities with the present text.
In the Paraphrase of Shem the father of the gnostics is not Seth, as among
Sethian gnostics, but another figure with a significant role in the early chap­ters
of Genesis, Shem (spelled Seem in the text). Here Shem receives a revela­tion
from the savior and revealer, Derdekeas, whose name may derive from
the Aramaic for "male child."2 According to the Paraphrase of Shem, in the
i. Refutation of All Heresies 5.19-22.
2. See Frederik Wisse, "The Paraphrase of Shem (VII.i)," in Pearson, Nag Hammadi Codex
p. 16, and Stroumsa, Another Seed: Studies in Gnostic Mythology, p. 79.
438

448. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 439
beginning there is the light above, the darkness below, and the spirit in be­tween.
This view of the origin of the world probably comes from the opening
verses of Genesis 1, with its introduction of the light, the darkness of the wa­tery
chaos, and the spirit (or wind) of god moving over the watery darkness.
In the present text the darkness becomes active and emerges as a threat to the
integrity of the spirit and the mind. The actions of the darkness are described
in sexually graphic terms, so that the creation of the world of nature is de­picted
as an orgy of cosmic sexuality. Derdekeas, as the child and emissary of
the light, intervenes in these affairs, but the opposition continues against the
spirit and the mind and the people of Shem, the gnostics. The forces of dark­ness
send a flood and try to destroy the people of Sodom, who are here seen
as gnostics. Through it all, however, with the help of Derdekeas, the people of
Shem persevere. As Derdekeas says to Shem at the close of the text, "go in
grace and continue in faith upon the earth. For every power of light and fire
will be completed by me because of you."
The Paraphrase of Shem is one of the Coptic texts from the Nag Hammadi
library. It was composed in Greek, and the existing Coptic version presents
significant problems of understanding.
THE PARAPHRASE OF SHEM3
ABOUT THE UNCONCEIVED
The paraphrase about the unconceived spirit; what Derdekeas revealed to me,
Shem, according to the will of the majesty.4
SHEM HAS A VISION
My thought, which was in my body, snatched me away from my race. It took
me up to the top of the world, which is close to the light that shone upon the
3. The Paraphrase of Shem: Nag Hammadi library, Codex VII,i, pp. 1,1 to 49,9; translated by
Frederik Wisse, "The Paraphrase of Shem," in Birger Pearson, ed. Nag Hammadi Codex VII.
Nag Hammadi and Manichean Studies 30 (Leiden & New York: E. J. Brill, 1996), pp. 25-127,
English version on odd-numbered pages only; revised by Willis Barnstone. Reprinted by per­mission
of Brill Academic Publishers.
4. Such lines constitute opening titles (incipits) describing the contents of the text.

449. 440 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
whole area there. I saw no earthly likeness, but there was light.5 And my
thought separated from the body of darkness as though in sleep.
DERDEKEAS TELLS SHEM ABOUT
THE POWERS OF THE UNIVERSE
I heard a voice saying to me, "Shem, since you are from an unmixed power and
you are the first being upon the earth, hear and understand what I shall say to
you first concerning the great powers who were in existence in the beginning
before I appeared. There was light and darkness, and there was spirit between
them.6 Since your root fell into forgetfulness—that which was the uncon-ceived
spirit—I reveal to you the truth about the powers.7 The light was
thought, full of attentiveness and reason; they were united into one form. And
the darkness was wind in waters. He possessed the mind wrapped in chaotic
fire. And the spirit between them was a gentle, humble light. These are the
three roots. They reigned each in themselves, alone. And they covered each
other, each one with its power.
"But the light, since he possessed great power, knew the abasement of the
darkness and his disorder, namely, that the root was not straight. The
crookedness of the darkness was lack of perception, namely, the illusion that
there is no one above him.8 And as long as he was able to restrain his evil, he
was covered with the water. And he stirred. And the spirit was frightened by
the sound.9 He lifted himself up to his station, and he saw a great, dark water.
And he was nauseated. The thought of the spirit stared down; he saw the infi­nite
light. But he was overlooked by the putrid root. And by the will of the
great light the dark water separated. The darkness came up wrapped in vile
5. Shem ecstatically ascends to the light above for a revelation from Derdekeas. The light, also
called here the majesty, is the primal power above. It may also be linked to the sun above.
6. Shem and his offspring derive from the spirit that is between the light and the darkness. The
three primal powers are termed roots; similar terminology occurs in Manichaean literature.
7. This is the common gnostic problem, forgetfulness, which necessitates knowledge and
remembrance.
8. This lack of perception recalls the ignorance and illusion of the demiurge in the Secret Book
of John and other gnostic texts in this volume.
9. See Genesis 1:2. When the darkness moves, the spirit takes notice and the quietness is disturbed.

450. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 441
ignorance, and this was in order that the mind might separate from him, be­cause
he prided himself in it.10
DARKNESS SEES THE SPIRIT
"When the darkness stirred, the light of the spirit appeared to him. When he
saw it he was astonished. He did not know that another power was above him.
And when he saw that his likeness was dark compared with the spirit, he felt
hurt. And in his pain he lifted up, above the height of the members of dark­ness,
his mind, which was the eye of the bitterness of evil. He caused his mind
to take shape in a member of the portions of the spirit, thinking that, by star­ing
down at his evil, he would be able to equal the spirit.J l But he was not able,
for he wanted to do an impossible thing, and it did not take place. But in order
that the mind of darkness, which is the eye of the bitterness of evil, might not
be destroyed, since he was made partially similar, he arose and shone with a
fiery light upon all of Hades,12 that the equality of the faultless light might be­come
apparent. For the spirit benefited from every form of darkness because
he appeared in his majesty.
"And the exalted, infinite light appeared, for he was very joyful. He wished
to reveal himself to the spirit. And the likeness of the exalted light appeared to
the unconceived spirit. I appeared.131 am the son of the incorruptible, infinite
light. I appeared in the likeness of the spirit, for I am the ray of the universal
light. And his appearance to me was in order that the mind of darkness might
not remain in Hades. For the darkness made himself like his mind in a portion
of the members. When I, O Shem, appeared in the likeness, so that the dark­ness
might become dark to himself, according to the will of the majesty, and
so that the darkness might become devoid of every aspect of the power that he
10.Salvation in this text entails the freeing of the mind from the confines of darkness. In other
gnostic creation texts it is explicitly said that the power below, for example, Yaldabaoth, takes
something from the divine light above, and that divine light falls into darkness. The same sort
of usurpation of light may be assumed here.
11. This difficult section of the text seems to assume that light from the spirit is lost in the realm
of darkness. Later in the text we are told that the light of the spirit is separated from the spirit
and eventually saved from darkness.
12. Darkness makes its home in Hades.
13. This is Derdekeas, the child of the light above, a ray of light shining down from above.

451. 442 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
possessed, the mind drew the chaotic fire, with which it was covered, from the
midst of the darkness and the water. And from the darkness the water became
a cloud, and from the cloud the womb took shape.14 The chaotic fire, which
was a deviation, went there.
DARKNESS EJACULATES MIND
INTO THE WOMB OF NATURE
"And when the darkness saw the womb, he became unchaste. And when he
had aroused the water, he rubbed the womb.15 His mind dissolved down to
the depths of nature. It mingled with the power of the bitterness of darkness.
And the womb's eye16 ruptured at the wickedness in order that she might not
again bring forth the mind. For it was a seed of nature from the dark root.
And when nature had taken to herself the mind by means of the dark power,
every likeness took shape in her. And when the darkness had acquired the
likeness of the mind, it resembled the spirit. For nature rose up to expel it;
she was powerless against it, since she did not have a form from the darkness.
For she brought it forth in the cloud. And the cloud shone. A mind appeared
in it like a frightful, harmful fire. The mind collided against the unconceived
spirit, since it possessed a likeness from him, in order that nature might be­come
empty of the chaotic fire.
And immediately nature was divided into four parts. They became clouds
that varied in their appearance. They were called hymen, afterbirth, power,
and water.17 And the hymen and the afterbirth and the power were chaotic
fires. And the mind was drawn from the midst of the darkness and the water—
since the mind was in the midst of nature and the dark power—in order that
the harmful waters might not cling to it. Because of this, nature was divided,
according to my will, in order that the mind may return to its power, which the
dark root, mixed with the mind, had taken from it. And the dark root ap­peared
in the womb. At the division of nature the dark root separated from the
14. The womb, or female sexual nature, may be seen as the female counterpart of the male
darkness, and so darkness becomes sexually active.
15. Rubbing is a colorful image to refer to sexual intercourse here and elsewhere in the text.
16. Or "outside," of the womb or of nature.
17. These are the inflamed manifestations of the female sexual nature. The myth of the soul in
the Exegesis on the Soul, and the overall description of humanity in the Secret Book of John,
both in this volume, include similar reflections on the mind trapped in sexuality.

452. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 443
dark power, which it possessed from the mind. The mind went into the midst
of the power—this was the middle region of nature.18
THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRIT IS
IN THE CONFINES OF NATURE
"The spirit of light, when the mind burdened him, was astonished. And the
force of his astonishment cast off the burden. And it returned to its heat. It put
on the light of the spirit. And when nature moved away from the power of the
light of the spirit, the burden returned. And the astonishment of the light
again cast off the burden. It stuck to the cloud of the hymen.19 And all the
clouds of darkness cried out, they who had separated from Hades, because of
the alien power.
"This is the spirit of light who has come in them. And by the will of the
majesty the spirit gazed up at the infinite light, that his light may be pitied and
the likeness may be brought up from Hades. And when the spirit had looked,
I flowed out—I, the son of the majesty—like a wave of light and like a whirl­wind
of the immortal spirit. And I blew from the cloud of the hymen upon the
astonishment of the unconceived spirit. The cloud separated and cast light
upon the clouds. These separated so that the spirit might return. Because of
this the mind took shape. Its rest was shattered. For the hymen of nature was
a cloud that cannot be grasped; it is a great fire. Similarly, the afterbirth of na­ture
is the cloud of silence; it is an august fire. And the power that was mixed
with the mind—it, too, was a cloud of nature that was joined with the dark­ness
that had aroused nature to unchastity. And the dark water was a frightful
cloud. And the root of nature, which was below, was crooked, since it is bur­densome
and harmful. The root was blind to the bound light, which was un­fathomable
because it had many appearances.
DERDEKEAS APPEALS ON BEHALF OF THE SPIRIT
"I had pity on the light of the spirit that the mind had received. I returned to
my position to pray to the exalted, infinite light that the power of the spirit
18. Through the intercourse of darkness and nature, mind enters into nature, producing aston­ishment
in the light from the spirit that is there.
19. The image of light hidden in a cloud also appears as Yaldabaoth in the Secret Book of John.

453. 444 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
might increase there and might be filled without dark defilement. And rever­ently
I said, You are the root of the light. Your hidden form has appeared, O
exalted, infinite one. May the whole power of the spirit spread and may it be
filled with its light, O infinite light. Then he will not be able to join with the
unconceived spirit, and the power of the astonishment will not be able to mix
with nature. According to the will of the majesty, my prayer was accepted.20
"And the voice of the word was heard saying through the majesty of the
unconceived spirit, 'Look, the power has been completed. The one who was
revealed by me appeared in the spirit.'
"Again I shall appear. I am Derdekeas, the son of the incorruptible, infinite
light.
"The light of the infinite spirit came down to feeble nature for a short time
until all the impurity of nature became void, and in order that the darkness of
nature might be exposed. I put on my garment, which is the garment of the
light of the majesty—which I am.211 came in the appearance of the spirit to
consider the whole light, which was in the depths of the darkness, according
to the will of the majesty, in order that the spirit by means of the word might
be filled with his light independently of the power of the infinite light. And at
my wish the spirit arose by his own power. His greatness was granted to him
that he might be filled with his whole light and depart from the whole burden
of the darkness. For what was behind was a dark fire that blew and pressed on
the spirit. And the spirit rejoiced because he was protected from the frightful
water. But his light was not equal to the majesty. What he was granted by the
infinite light was given so that in all his members he might appear as a single
image of light. And when the spirit arose above the water, his dark likeness be­came
apparent. And the spirit honored the exalted light: 'Surely you alone are
the infinite one, because you are above every unconceived thing, for you have
protected me from the darkness. And at your wish I arose above the power of
darkness.'
"And that nothing might be hidden from you, Shem, the thought, which
the spirit from the greatness had contemplated, came into being, since the
darkness was not able to restrain his evil. But when the thought appeared,
the three roots became known as they were from the beginning. If the dark­ness
had been able to restrain his evil, the mind would not have separated
from him, and another power would not have appeared.
20. Derdekeas prays to the light above for the salvation of the spirit, and the prayer is heard.
21. Derdekeas dresses in the light of the divine in order to save and enlighten the spirit.

454. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 445
DERDEKEAS BRIGHTENS THE
LIGHT OF THE SPIRIT
"But from the time it appeared I was seen, the son of the majesty, that the light
of the spirit might not become faint, and that nature might not reign over it,
because it gazed at me.
"And by the will of the greatness my equality was revealed, that what is of
the power might become apparent. You are the great power that came into
being, and I am the perfect light that is above the spirit and the darkness, the
one who puts to shame the darkness for the intercourse of impure rubbing.
For through the division of nature the majesty wished to be covered with
honor up to the height of the thought of the spirit. And the spirit received rest
in his power. For the image of the light is inseparable from the unconceived
spirit. And the lawgivers did not name him after all the clouds of nature, nor
is it possible to name him. For every likeness into which nature had divided
is a power of the chaotic fire, which is the material seed. The one who took to
himself the power of the darkness imprisoned it in the midst of its members.
And by the will of the majesty, in order that the mind and the whole light of
the spirit might be protected from every burden and from the toil of nature,
a voice came forth from the spirit to the cloud of the hymen. And the light of
the astonishment began to rejoice with the voice that was granted to him. And
the great spirit of light was in the cloud of the hymen. He honored the infinite
light and the universal likeness, who I am, the son of the majesty, saying,
Anasses Duses,22 you are the infinite light who was given by the will of the
majesty to establish every light of the spirit upon the place, and to separate
the mind from the darkness. For it was not right for the light of the spirit to
remain in Hades. For at your wish the spirit arose to behold your greatness.'
DERDEKEAS DISTURBS THE POWERS OF NATURE
"For I said these things to you, Shem, that you might know that my likeness,
the son of the majesty, is from my infinite thought, since I am for him a uni­versal
likeness that does not lie, and I am above every truth and am the origin
of the word. His appearance is in my beautiful garment of light, which is the
22. This name is known only from this text. It probably derives from Greek words for "rising"
(or "east") and "setting" (or "west"), to indicate the rising and setting of the light (see Michel
Roberge, La Paraphrase de Jem, p. 139).

455. 446 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
voice of the immeasurable thought. We are that single, sole light that came
into being. He appeared in another root in order that the power of the spirit
might be raised from feeble nature. For by the will of the great light I came
forth from the exalted spirit down to the cloud of the hymen without my uni­versal
garment.
"And the word took me to himself, from the spirit, in the first cloud of
the hymen of nature. And I put on this of which the majesty and the uncon-ceived
spirit made me worthy. And the threefold unity of my garment ap­peared
in the cloud, by the will of the majesty, in a single form. And my
likeness was covered with the light of my garment. And the cloud was dis­turbed,
and it was not able to tolerate my likeness. It shed the first power,
which it had taken from the spirit—that which shone on him from the be­ginning,
before I appeared in the word to the spirit. The cloud would not
have been able to tolerate both of them. And the light that came forth from
the cloud passed through silence until it came into the middle region. And
by the will of the majesty, the light mixed with him, that is, the spirit that ex­ists
in silence, which had been separated from the spirit of light. It was sepa­rated
from the light by the cloud of silence. The cloud was disturbed. It was
he who gave rest to the flame of fire. He humbled the dark womb that she
might not reveal other seed from the darkness. He kept them back in the
middle region of nature in their position, which was in the cloud. They were
troubled because they did not know where they were. For still they do not
possess the universal understanding of the spirit.
"And when I prayed to the majesty, toward the infinite light, that the
chaotic power of the spirit might go to and fro, and the dark womb might be
barren, and that my likeness might appear in the cloud of the hymen, as if I
were wrapped in the light of the spirit that went before me, and by the will of
the majesty and through the prayer, I came in the cloud in order that through
my garment—which was from the power of the spirit—the pleroma of the
word might bring power to the members who possessed it in the darkness.
For because of them I appeared in this insignificant place. For I am a helper of
everyone who has been given a name. When I appeared in the cloud, the light
of the spirit began to save itself from the frightful water, and from the clouds
of fire that had been separated from dark nature. And I gave them eternal
honor that they might not again engage in the impure rubbing.
"And the light that was in the hymen was disturbed by my power, and it
passed through my middle region. It was filled with the universal thought.
And through the word of the light of the spirit it returned to its rest. It received
form in its root and shone without deficiency. And the light that had come

456. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 447
forth with it from silence went in the middle region and returned to the place.
And the cloud shone. And from it came an unquenchable fire. And the por­tion
that separated from the astonishment put on forgetfulness.23 It was de­ceived
by the fire of darkness. And the shock of its astonishment cast off the
burden of the cloud. It was evil, since it was unclean. And the fire mixed with
the water so that the waters might become harmful.
"Nature, which had been disturbed, immediately arose from the idle wa­ters.
For her ascent was shameful. And nature took to herself the power of fire.
She became strong because of the light of the spirit that was in nature. Her
likeness appeared in the water in the form of a frightful beast with many faces,
which is crooked below. A light went down to chaos filled with mist and dust,
in order to harm nature. And the light of astonishment in the middle region
came to it after he cast off the burden of the darkness.24 He rejoiced when the
spirit arose. For he looked from the clouds down at the dark waters upon the
light that was in the depths of nature.
"So I appeared that I might get an opportunity to go down to the nether
world, to the light of the spirit that was burdened, that I might protect him
from the evil of the burden. And through his looking down at the dark re­gion
the light once more came up, that the womb might again come up from
the water. The womb came up by my will. Guilefully, the eye opened. And the
light, which had appeared in the middle region and which had separated
from the astonishment, rested and shone upon her. And the womb saw things
she had not seen before, and she rejoiced joyfully in the light, although this
one that appeared in the middle region, in her wickedness, is not hers. When
the light shone upon her, and the womb saw things she had not seen, and she
was brought down to the water, she was thinking that she had reached the
power of light. And she did not know that her root was made idle by the like­ness
of the light, and that it was to the root that he had run.
THE LIGHT PRAYS FOR MERCY
"The light was astonished, the one that was in the middle region and that was
beginning and end. Therefore his thought gazed directly up at the exalted
23. A portion of the light trapped in the darkness, the portion from astonishment of spirit,
needs to be saved. Pneumatic people like the people of Shem trace their salvation to spirit.
24. This light is trapped in the middle region, the region of the sexual power of nature. The
concept of the middle region is common in gnostic texts.

457. 44^ LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
light. And he called out and said, 'Lord, have mercy on me, for my light and my
effort went astray. For if your goodness does not establish me, I do not know
where I am.' And when the majesty had heard him, he had mercy on him.25
"And I appeared in the cloud of the hymen, in silence, without my holy
garment. With my will I honored my garment, which has three forms in the
cloud of the hymen. And the light that was in silence, the one from the rejoic­ing
power, contained me. I wore it.26 And its two parts appeared in a single
form. Its other parts did not appear on account of the fire. I became unable
to speak in the cloud of the hymen, for its fire was frightful, lifting itself up
without diminishing. And so that my greatness and the word might appear, I
placed likewise my other garment in the cloud of silence. I went into the mid­dle
region and put on the light that was in it, that was sunk in forgetfulness
and that was separated from the spirit of astonishment, for he had cast off
the burden. At my wish, nothing mortal appeared to him, but they were all
immortal things that the spirit granted to him. And he said in the mind of
the light, 'AI EIS AI OU PHAR DOUIA EI OU,271 have come in great rest in
order that he may give rest to my light in his root, and may bring it out of
harmful nature.'
DERDEKEAS DONS A FIERY GARMENT
AND HAS SEX WITH NATURE
"Then, by the will of the majesty, I took off my garment of light. I put on an­other
garment of fire, which has no form, which is from the mind of the
power, which was separated, and which was prepared for me, according to my
will, in the middle region.28 For the middle region covered it with a dark
power that I might come and put it on. I went down to chaos to save the whole
light from it. For without the power of darkness I could not oppose nature.
When I came into nature she was not able to tolerate my power. But I rested
myself upon her staring eye, which was a light from the spirit. For it had been
prepared for me as a garment and rest by the spirit. Through me, he opened
his eyes down to Hades. He granted nature his voice for a time.
25. The light trapped in the sexual power of nature prays to the divine for help.
26. Derdekeas dresses up again and prepares to liberate the light.
27. This is glossolalia, ecstatic speech, the language of the heavenly realm.
28. Now Derdekeas dons another garment, a garment of fire, probably sexual fire, in order to
have sex with female nature and thereby liberate the light.

458. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 449
"And my garment of fire, according to the will of the majesty, went down
to what is strong, and to the unclean portion of nature that the power of
darkness was covering. And my garment rubbed nature in her covering.29
And her unclean femininity was strong. And the wrathful womb came up
and made the mind dry, resembling a fish that has a drop of fire and a power
of fire. And when nature had cast off the mind, she was troubled and wept.30
When she was hurt and in her tears, she cast off the power of the spirit and
remained as I am. I put on the light of the spirit and rested with my garment
on account of the sight of the fish. And that the deeds of nature might be
condemned, since she is blind, manifold animals came out of her, in accor­dance
with the number of the fleeting winds.31 All of them came into being
in Hades, searching for the light of the mind that took shape. They were not
able to stand up against it. I rejoiced over their ignorance.
DERDEKEAS FOOLS NATURE,
AND CREATION BEGINS
"They found me, the son of the majesty, in front of the womb that has many
forms. I put on the beast and laid before her a great request that heaven and
earth might come into being, so that the whole light might rise up.32 For in no
other way could the power of the spirit be saved from bondage except that I
appear to her in animal form. Therefore she was gracious to me as if I were her
son. And on account of my request, nature arose, since she possesses the
power of the spirit and the darkness and the fire. For she had taken off her
forms. When she had cast it off, she blew upon the water.33 The heaven was
created. And from the foam of heaven the earth came into being. And at my
wish it brought forth all kinds of food in accordance with the number of the
beasts. And it brought forth dew from the winds on account of you and those
who will be conceived the second time upon the earth. For the earth possessed
a power of chaotic fire. Therefore it brought forth every seed. And when the
29. Another description of sexual intercourse.
30. Nature has an orgasm and ejects mind.
31. Nature produces bestial offspring, reminiscent of Sophia's bestial child Yaldabaoth in the
Secret Book of John.
32. Derdekeas puts on a bestial form, an animal form, and thus tricks nature into thinking that
he is her son.
33. Nature begins to create the world. Heaven and earth are created, and food is produced for
all the animals of nature. Nature blowing upon the water may be a parallel to Genesis 1:2.

459. 450 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
heaven and the earth were created, my garment of fire arose in the midst of the
cloud of nature and shone upon the whole world until nature became dry.
The darkness that was the earth's garment was cast into the harmful waters.
The middle region was cleansed from the darkness. But the womb grieved be­cause
of what had happened. She perceived, in her parts, water like a mirror.
When she perceived it, she wondered how it had come into being. Therefore
she remained a widow. It also was astonished that it was not in her. For still the
forms possessed a power of fire and light. The power remained, that it might
be in nature until all the powers are taken away from her. For just as the light
of the spirit was completed in three clouds, it is necessary also that the power
that is in Hades be completed at the appointed time. For, because of the grace
of the majesty, I came forth to her from the water for the second time. For my
face pleased her. Her face also was glad.
DERDEKEAS COMMANDS NATURE
TO GIVE BIRTH
"And I said to her, 'May seed and power come forth from you upon the
earth.'34 And she obeyed the will of the spirit that she might be brought to
naught. And when her forms returned, they rubbed their tongues with each
other and copulated; they produced winds and demons and the power that is
from the fire and the darkness and the spirit.35 But the form that remained
alone cast the beast from herself. She did not have intercourse, but she was the
one who rubbed herself alone. And she brought forth a wind that possessed a
power from the fire and the darkness and the spirit.36
"And in order that the demons also might become devoid of the power that
they possessed through the impure intercourse, a womb was with the winds
resembling water. And an unclean penis was with the demons in accordance
with the example of the darkness, and in the way he rubbed with the womb
from the beginning. And after the forms of nature had been together, they
separated from each other. They cast off the power, being astonished about the
deceit that had happened to them. They grieved with an eternal grief. They
covered themselves with their power.
34- Nature is to give birth, again, to forms of herself.
35- More sex transpires, and female minds and male demons are produced.
36. A portion of nature masturbates and produces a powerful wind.

460. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 45I
"And when I had put them to shame, I arose with my garment in the
power—which is above the beast, which is a light—in order that I might
make nature desolate. The mind that had appeared in the nature of darkness,
and that was the eye of darkness, at my wish reigned over the winds and the
demons.37 And I gave him a likeness of fire, light, and attentiveness, and a
share of guileless reason. Therefore he was given of the greatness in order to
be strong in his power, independent of the power, independent of the light of
the spirit and intercourse of darkness, in order that, at the end of time, when
nature will be destroyed, he may rest in the honored place. For he will be
found faithful, since he has loathed the unchastity of nature with the dark­ness.
The strong power of the mind came into being from the mind and the
unconceived spirit. But the winds, which are demons from water and fire and
darkness and light, had intercourse unto perdition. And through this inter­course
the winds received in their womb foam from the penis of the demons.
They conceived a power in their womb. From the breathing, the wombs of
the winds girded each other until the times of the birth came. They went
down to the water. And the power was delivered, through the breathing that
causes the birth, in the midst of the rubbing. And every form of the birth re­ceived
shape in it. When the times of the birth were near, all the winds were
gathered from the water that is near the earth. They gave birth to all kinds of
unchastity. And the place where the wind alone went was permeated with
unchastity. Barren wives came from it and sterile husbands. For just as they
are born, so they bear.38
DEMONS BRING THE FLOOD
AND THE TOWER OF BABEL
"Because of you,39 the image of the spirit appeared in the earth and the water.
For you are like the light. You possess a share of the winds and the demons and
a thought from the light of the power of the astonishment. For everything that
he brought forth from the womb upon the earth was not a good thing for her,
but it was her groan and her pain, because of the image that appeared in you
from the spirit. For you are exalted in your heart. And it is a blessing, Shem, if
37. At last mind is freed from the power of darkness and reigns over the winds and demons.
38. The winds and the demons have sex, and the winds give birth to all sorts of unclean things;
one wind masturbates and produces barren women and sterile men.
39. That is, for the sake of the people or race of Shem, the gnostics.

461. 452 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
a portion is given to someone and he departs from the soul to go to the
thought of the light. For the soul is a burden to the darkness, and those who
know where the root of the soul came from will be able to grope after nature
also. For the soul is a work of unchastity and an object of scorn to the thought
of light. For I am the one who revealed concerning all that is unconceived.
"And so that the sin of nature might be filled, I made the womb, which was
disturbed, pleasant—the blind wisdom—that I might be able to bring it to
naught.40 And at my wish, he plotted with the water of darkness and also the
darkness, that they might wound every form of your heart. For by the will of
the light of the spirit they surrounded you; they bound you in faith.41 And so
that his mind might become idle, he sent a demon, that the plan of her wicked­ness
might be proclaimed. And he caused a flood,42 and he destroyed your
race, to take the light and to take away from faith. But I proclaimed quickly by
the mouth of the demon that a tower come to be up to the particle of light,
which was left in the demons and their race—which was water—that the
demon might be protected from the turbulent chaos. And the womb planned
these things according to my will, that she might pour forth completely. A
tower came to be through the demons.43 The darkness was disturbed by his
loss. He loosened the muscles of the womb. And the demon who was going to
enter the tower was protected so that the races might continue and might ac­quire
coherence through him. For he possesses power from every form.
"Return henceforth, O Shem, and rejoice greatly over your race and faith,
for without body and necessity it is protected from every body of darkness,
bearing witness to the holy things of the greatness that were revealed to them
in their thought by my will. And they shall rest in the unconceived spirit
without grief. But you, Shem, because of this, you remained in the body out­side
the cloud of light, that you might remain with faith.44 And faith will
come to you. Her thought will be taken and given to you with a conscious­ness
of light. I told you these things for the benefit of your race from the
cloud of light. And likewise, what I shall say to you concerning everything, I
40. The meaning of this sentence is unclear. It may recall, vaguely, the disturbance and agita­tion
of Sophia, or wisdom, and the resolution of her disturbance.
41. In Greek faith is Pistis, as in Pistis Sophia. Faith may be personified and given the name Pis-tis
throughout the Paraphrase of Shem.
42. The great flood of Genesis 6-9.
43. The tower of Babel of Genesis 11:1-9.
44. Shem and his fellow gnostics remain embodied in order to communicate the revelation and
the knowledge.

462. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 453
shall reveal to you completely, that you may reveal it to those who will be
upon the earth the second time.
A DISTURBANCE UNDOES
THE POWER OF NATURE
"O Shem, the disturbance that occurred at my wish happened so that nature
might become empty.45 For the wrath of the darkness subsided. O Shem, the
mouth of darkness was shut. No longer does the light that shone for the world
appear in it, according to my will. And when nature had said that its wish was
fulfilled, then every form was engulfed by the waters in prideful ignorance.
Nature turned her dark vagina and cast from her the power of fire, which was
in her from the beginning through the rubbing of the darkness. It lifted itself
up and shone upon the whole world instead of the righteous one. And all her
forms sent forth a power like a flame of fire up to heaven as a help to the cor­rupted
light, which had lifted itself up. For they were members of the chaotic
fire. And she did not know that she had harmed herself. When she cast forth
the power, the power that she possessed, she cast it forth from the genitals. The
demon, who is a deceiver, stirred up the womb in every form.
"And in her ignorance, as if she were doing a great thing, she granted the
demons and the winds a star each. For without wind and star nothing happens
upon the earth. For every power is filled by them after they were released from
the darkness and the fire and the power and the light. For in the place where
their darkness and their fire were mixed with each other, beasts were brought
forth. And in the place of the darkness and the fire, and the power of the mind,
and the light, human beings came into existence. Being from the spirit, the
thought of the light, my eye, does not exist in every person. For before the
flood came from the winds and the demons, rain came to people. But then, in
order that the power that is in the tower might be brought forth and might
rest upon the earth, nature, which had been disturbed, wanted to harm the
seed that will be upon the earth after the flood. Demons were sent to them,
and a deviation of the winds, and a burden of the angels, and a fear of the
prophet, a condemnation of speech, that I may teach you, O Shem, from what
blindness your race is protected. When I have revealed to you all that has been
45- Everything happens according to the will and word of the divine, for the undoing of nature
and the glorification of the light.

463. 454 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
spoken, then the righteous one will shine upon the world with my garment.
And night and day will be separated.46 For I shall hasten down to the world
to take the light of that place, the one that faith possesses. And I shall appear
to those who will acquire the thought of the light of the spirit. For because of
them my majesty appeared.
SODOM, CITY OF GNOSIS,
IS UNJUSTLY BURNED
"When he will have appeared, O Shem, upon the earth, in the place that will
be called Sodom, then safeguard the insight that I shall give you.47 For those
whose heart was pure will congregate to you, because of the word that you
will reveal. For when you appear in the world, dark nature will shake against
you, together with the winds and a demon, that they may destroy the
insight. But you, proclaim quickly to the Sodomites your universal teaching,
for they are your members. For the demon of human form will part from
that place by my will, since he is ignorant. He will guard this utterance. But
the Sodomites, according to the will of the majesty, will bear witness to the
universal testimony. They will rest with a pure conscience in the place of
their repose, which is the unconceived spirit. And as these things will hap­pen,
Sodom will be burned unjustly by a base nature. For the evil will not
cease in order that your majesty may reveal that place.
"Then the demon will depart with faith. And then he will appear in the
four regions of the world. And when faith appears in the last likeness, then
will her appearance become manifest. For the firstborn is the demon who ap
peared in the union of nature with many faces, that faith might appear in
him.48 For when he appears in the world, evil passions will arise, and earth­quakes,
and wars, and famines, and blasphemies. For because of him the
whole world will be disturbed. He will seek the power of faith and light; he
will not find it. For at that time the other demon will appear upon the river to
baptize with an imperfect baptism, and to trouble the world with a bondage
46. See Genesis 1:14-19.
47. The story of Sodom, which here is given a positive spin, is also told in Genesis 14 and 18-19.
Here the Sodomites are described as fellow gnostics with Shem and his race.
48. The identity of this demon is unknown. It is explained here in the context of faith, and
earthquakes, wars, famines, and blasphemies come through him. The whole world is disturbed
on account of him. Frederik Wisse indicates that this demon maybe Jesus (in Pearson, Nag
Hammadi Codex VII, p. 86).

464. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 455
of water.49 But it is necessary for me to appear in the members of the thought
of faith to reveal the great things of my power. I shall separate it from the
demon, who is Soldas.50 And the light that he possesses from the spirit I shall
mix with my invincible garment, as well as him whom I shall reveal in the
darkness for your sake and for the sake of your race, which will be protected
from the evil darkness.
THE LITANY
"Know, O Shem,51
that without Elorchaios and Amoias
and Strophaias and Chelkeak
and Chelkea and Elaios,
no one will be able to pass by
this wicked region.
For this is my testimony,
that through it I have been victorious over
the wicked region.
And I have taken the light of the spirit
from the frightful water.
For when the appointed days of the demon—
he who will baptize erringly—
draw near, then I shall appear
in the baptism of the demon
to reveal with the mouth of faith
a testimony to those who belong to her.
I testify of you, spark, unquenchable,
Osei, the elect of the light, the eye of heaven,
and faith, the first and the last,
and Sophia, and Saphaia, and Saphaina,
and the righteous spark,
49. The identity of this other demon is also unknown, but it may be John the baptizer; see
Wisse, in Pearson, NagHammadi Codex VII, p. 88.
50. This may be Jesus or John the baptizer.
51. This is the beginning of the litany or testimony or memorial of Derdekeas for Shem. Some
of the names in the litany are explained in the paraphrase that follows.

465. 456 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
and the impure light.
And you, east, and west, and north, and south, .
upper air and lower air,
and all the powers and authorities,
you are in creation.
And you, Moluchtha and Soch,
are from every work
and every impure effort of nature.
"Then I shall come through the demon down to the water. And whirlpools
of water and flames of fire will rise up against me. Then I shall come up from
the water, having put on the light of faith and the unquenchable fire, that
through my help the power of the spirit may cross over, she who has been cast
in the world by the winds and the demons and the stars. And in them every
unchastity will be filled.
"Finally, O Shem, consider yourself pleasing in the thought of the light. Do
not let your thought have dealings with the fire and the body of darkness,
which was an unclean work. These things that I teach you are right.
THE PARAPHRASE
"This is the paraphrase52: For you did not remember that it is from the firma­ment
that your race has been protected. Elorchaios is the name of the great
light, the place from which I have come, the word that has no equal. And the
likeness is my honored garment. And Derdekeas is the name53 of his word in
the voice of the light. And Strophaia is the blessed glance, which is the spirit.
And Chelkeach is my garment, who has come from the astonishment, who
was in the cloud of the hymen that appeared as a cloud with three forms. And
Chelkea is my garment that has two forms, he who was in the cloud of silence.
And Chelke is my garment that was given him from every region; it was given
him in a single form from the greatness, and he was in the cloud of the middle
region. And the star of the light that was mentioned is my invincible garment,
which I wore in Hades; this, the star of the light, is the mercy that surpasses the
52. This is the specific paraphrase itself. This paraphrase explains names in the litany or testimony
or memorial in the overall context of aspects of the story of creation in the Paraphrase of Shem.
53. Partially restored.

466. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 457
thought and the testimony of those who bear witness. And the testimony was
mentioned: the first and the last, faith, the mind of the wind of darkness. And
Sophaia and Saphaina are in the cloud of those who have been separated from
the chaotic fire. And the righteous spark is the cloud of light that has shone in
your midst. For in the cloud of light my garment will go down to chaos. But
the impure light, a power, appeared in the darkness and belongs to dark na­ture.
And the upper air and the lower air, and the powers and the authorities,
the demons and the stars, these possessed a particle of fire and a light from the
spirit. And Moluchthas is a wind, for without it nothing is brought forth upon
the earth. He has a likeness of a serpent and a unicorn. His protrusions are
manifold wings. And the remainder is the womb that has been disturbed.54
THE BLESSING OF SHEM AND
THE PEOPLE OF SPIRIT
"You are blessed, Shem, for your race55 has been protected from the dark
wind, which is many-faced. And they will bear witness to the universal testi­mony
and to the impure rubbing of nature. And they will become higher of
mind by remembering the light.
"O Shem, no one who wears the body will be able to complete these things.
But through remembrance he will be able to grasp them, in order that, when
his mind separates from the body, these things may then be revealed to him.
They have been revealed to your race. O Shem, it is difficult for someone wear­ing
a body to complete these things, as I said to you. And it is a small number
that will complete them, those who possess the particle of the mind and the
thought of the light of the spirit.56 They will keep their mind from the impure
rubbing. For many in the race of nature will seek the security of the power.
They will not find it, nor will they be able to do the will of faith. For they are
seed of the universal darkness. They will be found in much suffering. The
winds and the demons will hate them. And the bondage of the body is severe.
For where the winds, and the stars, and the demons are cast out from the power
of the spirit, there repentance and testimony come upon them, and mercy will
lead them to the unconceived spirit. And those who are repentant will find rest
54. This is the end of the paraphrase itself.
55. The gnostics.
56. This section describes the differing fates of different sorts of people—people of spirit,
people of faith, people of flesh.

467. 458 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
in the consummation and faith, in the place of the hymen. This is the faith that
will fill the place that has been left empty. But those who do not share in the
spirit of light and in faith will dissolve in the darkness, the place where repen­tance
did not come.
"It is I who opened the eternal gates that were shut from the beginning.
To those who long for the best of life, and those who are worthy of rest, he
revealed them. I granted perception to those who perceive. I disclosed to
them all the thoughts and the teaching of the righteous ones. And I did not
become their enemy at all. But when I had endured the wrath of the world, I
was victorious. There was not one of them who knew me. The gates of fire
and endless smoke opened against me. All the winds rose up against me. The
thunderings and the lightning flashes for a time will rise up against me. And
they will bring their wrath upon me. And on account of me, with regard to
the flesh, they will rule over them according to their race.
IMPURE BAPTISM LEADS TO BONDAGE
"And many who wear erring flesh will go down to the harmful waters through
the winds and the demons. And they are bound by the water.57 And the water
will heal with a futile remedy. It will lead astray, and it will bind the world. And
those who do the will of nature . . . two times in the day of the water and the
forms of nature. And it will not be granted them, when faith disturbs them to
take to herself the righteous one.
"O Shem, it is necessary that the thought be called by the word so the
bondage of the power of the spirit may be saved from the frightful water. And
it is blessedness if it is granted someone to contemplate what is exalted, and to
know the exalted time and the bondage. For the water is an insignificant body.
And people are not released because they are bound in the water, just as from
the beginning the light of the spirit was bound.
"O Shem, they are deceived by manifold demons, thinking that through bap­tism
with the uncleanness of water, which is dark, feeble, idle, and disturbing,
the water will take away sins. And they do not know that from the water to
57. The text is highly critical of baptism with water, a criticism that may be directed toward the
emerging orthodox church and its reliance upon baptism. For baptism in gnostic texts, with a
more or less spiritualized understanding, see the Baptismal Ceremony of the Gospel of the
Egyptians, the Gospel of Philip, and the Valentinian Liturgical Readings, among other texts in
this volume.

468. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 459
the water there is bondage, error, unchastity, envy, murder, adultery, false wit­ness,
heresies, robberies, lusts, babblings, wrath, bitterness Therefore, there
are many deaths that burden their thoughts. For I foretell it to those who have
understanding. They will refrain from the impure baptism. And those who
have understanding from the light of the spirit will not have dealings with the
impure rubbing. And their heart will not grow faint, nor will they curse, nor
will they give honor to the water. Where the curse is, there is the deficiency.
And the blindness is where the honor is. For if they mix with the evil ones, they
become empty in the dark water. Where the water has been mentioned, there is
nature, and the oath, and the lie, and the loss. For only in the unconceived
spirit, where the exalted light rested, has the water not been mentioned, nor
can it be mentioned.
"For this is my appearance: when I have completed the times that are as­signed
to me upon the earth, then I will cast from me my garment of fire.
And my unequalled garment will shine forth upon me, and all my other gar­ments
that I put on in all the clouds that were from the astonishment of the
spirit. For the air will tear my garment. My garment will shine, and it will di­vide
all the clouds up to the root of the light. Rest is the mind and my gar­ment.
And my remaining garments, those on the left and those on the right,
will shine on the back in order that the image of the light may appear. For in
the last day my garments that I put on in the three clouds will rest in their
root, that is, in the unconceived spirit, since they are without fault, through
the division of the clouds.
Therefore I have appeared, faultless, on account of the clouds, because they
are unequal, that the wickedness of nature might be ended. For she wished at
that time to snare me. She was about to restrain Soldas, who is the dark flame,
who was set on high, on the tree of error, that it might snare me. She took care
of her faith, being vainglorious.58
REBOUEL IS BEHEADED
"And at that time the light was about to separate from the darkness, and a
voice was heard in the world, saying, 'Blessings on the eye that has seen you
58. Partially restored; "tree" may also be understood as "cross," hence "cross of error." The tree
or cross may do the snaring. Michel Roberge understands all this as an unsuccessful attempt on
the part of nature to attack the savior Derdekeas; she was unsuccessful, and crucified Jesus
("Soldas") instead. Also see Wisse, in Pearson, NagHammadi Codex VII, p. 107.

469. 460 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
and the mind that has supported your majesty at my desire.'59 It will be said by
the exalted one, 'Blessings on Rebouel among every race of people, for it is you
alone who have seen.'60 And she will listen. And they will behead the woman
who has the perception, whom you will reveal upon the earth. And according
to my will, she will bear witness, and she will cease from every vain effort of
nature and chaos. For the woman whom they will behead at that time is the
support of the power of the demon who will baptize the seed of darkness in
severity, that the seed may mix with unchastity. He begot a woman. She was
called Rebouel.
"See, O Shem, how all the things I have said to you have been fulfilled
And the things that you lack, according to my will, will appear to you at that
place upon the earth, that you may reveal them as they are. Do not let your
thought have dealings with the body. For I have said these things to you,
through the voice of the fire, for I entered through the midst of the clouds.
And I spoke according to the language of each one. This is my language that I
spoke to you.61 And it will be taken from you. And you will speak with the
voice of the world upon the earth.62 And it will appear to you with that ap­pearance
and voice, and all that I have said to you. Henceforth proceed with
faith to shine in the depths of the world."
SHEM RETURNS FROM HIS ECSTATIC JOURNEY
And I, Shem, awoke as if from a deep sleep. I marveled when I received the
power of the light and his whole thought. And I proceeded with faith to
shine with me. And the righteous one followed us with my invincible gar­ment.
And all that he had told me would happen upon the earth happened.
Nature was handed over to faith, that faith might overturn her and that na­ture
might stand in the darkness. She produced a turning motion while wan­dering
night and day, not getting rest with the souls. These things completed
her deeds.
59. This vaguely recalls Luke 10:23.
60. Michel Roberge understands the account of Rebouel to be an allegory on the crucifixion
and baptism: "Just as Rebouel is declared blessed in her beheading, so the noetics [people of
mind] should not hesitate to separate from the Great Church, which practices baptism, and
enter the community of those who possess gnosis" (in Robinson, NagHammadi Library in
English, rev. ed., p. 341).
61. This must be a language of light, of heaven, not an earthly language.
62. This must be Shem's earthly language.

470. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 461
Then I rejoiced in the thought of the light. I came forth from the darkness
and walked in faith where the forms of nature are, up to the top of the earth,
to the things that are prepared. Your faith is upon the earth the whole day.
For all night and day she surrounds nature to take to herself the righteous
one. For nature is burdened, and she is troubled. For none will be able to
open the forms of the womb except the mind alone who was entrusted with
their likeness. For frightful is their likeness of the two forms of nature, the
one that is blind.
But they who have a free conscience remove themselves from the babbling
of nature. For they will bear witness to the universal testimony; they will strip
off the burden of darkness; they will put on the word of the light; and they will
not be kept back in the insignificant place. And what they possess from the
power of the mind they will give to faith. They will be accepted without grief.
And the chaotic fire that they possess they will leave in the middle region of
nature. And they will be received by my garments, which are in the clouds. It
is they who guide their members. They will rest in the spirit without suffering.
And because of this, the appointed term of faith appeared upon the earth for
a short time, until the darkness is taken away from her, and her testimony is
revealed that was revealed by me. They, who will prove to be from her root,
will strip off the darkness and the chaotic fire. They will put on the light of the
mind and bear witness. For all that I have said must happen.
THE FINAL DESOLATION
After I cease to be upon the earth and withdraw up to my rest, a great, evil
error will come upon the world, and many evils in accordance with the num­ber
of the forms of nature. Evil times will come.63 And when the era of na­ture
is approaching destruction, darkness will come upon the earth. The
number64 will be small. And a demon will come up from the power who has
a likeness of fire. He will divide the heaven, and he will rest in the depth of
the east. For the whole world will quake. And the deceived world will be
thrown into confusion. Many places will be flooded because of envy of the
winds and the demons who have a name that is senseless: Phorbea, Chloerga.
63. This section of the text has Shem explain the end of the world in apocalyptic terms some­what
reminiscent of the book of Revelation and other apocalyptic literature.
64. Probably the number of days.

471. 462 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
They are the ones who govern the world with their teaching. And they lead
astray many hearts because of their disorder and their unchastity. Many
places will be sprinkled with blood. And five races by themselves will eat
their sons. The regions of the south will receive the word of the light. But
they who are from the error of the world and from the east. . . .65 A demon
will come forth from the belly of the serpent. He was in hiding in a desolate
place. He will perform many wonders. Many will loathe him. A wind will
come forth from his mouth with a female likeness. Her name will be called
Abalphe. He will reign over the world from the east to the west.
Then nature will have a final opportunity. And the stars will cease from
the sky. The mouth of error will be opened that the evil darkness may be­come
idle and silent. And in the last day the forms of nature will be destroyed
with the winds and all their demons; they will become a dark lump, just as
they were from the beginning.66 And the sweet waters that were burdened by
the demons will perish. For where the power of the spirit has gone, there are
my sweet waters. The other works of nature will not be manifest. They will
mix with the infinite waters of darkness. And all her forms will cease from
the middle region.
SHEM ASCENDS, IN MIND, AND
RECITES THE LITANY
I, Shem, have completed these things. And my mind began to separate from
the body of darkness.67 My time was completed. And my mind put on the im­mortal
testimony. And I said,
"I declare your testimony,68
which you have revealed to me:
Elorchaios,
and you, Amoiaias,
and you, Sederkeas,
65. Perhaps read "will not."
66. This eschatological concept of the lump also occurs in Manichaean literature.
67. Shem begins his spiritual ascent out of his body.
68. Shem recites (more or less) the litany given by Derdekeas earlier in the text. The scribe
seems inadvertently to have copied several lines of the litany twice (a scribal error known as
dittography). This repetition is not reflected in the present translation.

472. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 463
and your guilelessness, Strophaias,
and you, Chelkeak,
and you, Chelkea,
and Chelke and Elaios,
you are the immortal testimony.
I testify to you,
spark, the unquenchable one,
who is an eye of heaven and a voice of light,
and Sophaia, and Saphaia, and Saphaina,
and the righteous spark,
and faith, the first and the last,
and the upper air and the lower air,
and all the powers and the authorities
that are in the world.
And you, impure light,
and you also, east, and west, and south, and north,
you are the zones of the inhabited world.
And you also, Moluchtha and Essoch,
you are the root of evil
and every work and impure effort of nature."
These are the things that I completed while bearing witness. I am Shem.
On the day that I was to come forth from the body, when my thought re­mained
in the body, I awoke as if from a deep sleep. And when I arose as it were
from the burden of my body, I said, "Just as nature became old, so is it also
in the day of human beings. Blessings on those who knew, when they slept, in
what power their thought rested."
And when the Pleiades separated, I saw clouds, which I shall pass by. For
the cloud of the spirit is like a pure beryl. And the cloud of the hymen is like a
shining emerald. And the cloud of silence is like a flourishing amaranth. And
the cloud of the middle region is like a pure jacinth.
"And when the righteous one appeared in nature,69 then, when nature was
angry, she felt hurt, and she granted to Morphaia to visit heaven. The righteous
one visits during twelve periods that he may visit them during one period, so
that his time may be completed quickly and nature may become idle.
69. Here, abruptly, Derdekeas seems to be speaking once again.

473. 464 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
GO IN GRACE AND FAITH
"Blessings on those who guard themselves against the heritage of death, which
is the burdensome water of darkness. For it will not be possible to conquer
them in a few moments, since they hasten to come forth from the error of the
world. And if they are conquered, they will be kept back from them and be
tormented in the darkness until the time of the consummation.70 When the
consummation has come and nature has been destroyed, then their thoughts
will separate from the darkness. Nature has burdened them for a short time.
And they will be in the ineffable light of the unconceived spirit without a
form. And thus is the mind, as I have said from the first.
"Henceforth, O Shem, go in grace and continue in faith upon the earth.
For every power of light and fire will be completed by me because of you. For
without you they will not be revealed until you speak of them openly. When
you cease to be upon the earth, they will be given to the worthy ones. And
apart from this proclamation, let them speak about you upon the earth, since
they will take the carefree and agreeable land."
70. On being kept back, Frederik Wisse refers to the role of purgatory (in Pearson, Nag Ham-madi
Codex VII, p. 125).

474. 29
The Second Treatise
of the Great Seth
I he work entitled Second Treatise of the Great Seth is a fascinating
I gnostic text with a most peculiar title. It is called the second trea-
_JL_ tise (logos), but it is not really a treatise, and we know of no first
treatise; and it is attributed to Seth, whose name occurs nowhere in the docu­ment
itself. (If Jesus is assumed to be a manifestation of Seth, that mighi begin
to help explain the title of the text.) The Second Treatise of the Great Seth is a
gnostic meditation, presented as a revelation of Christ, on the meaning of the
life and particularly the death of Jesus the anointed, and the relationship be­tween
gnostic believers and the emerging orthodox church.
The meditation has Jesus tell the story of his career: his beginnings in the
divine assembly, his descent into this world and adoption of a body, his deal­ings
with the cosmic rulers of this world, his crucifixion—or what seemed to
be his crucifixion—and finally his ascent back home to the divine fullness. As
in the Coptic Revelation of Peter, the Nag Hammadi text that follows the Sec­ond
Treatise of the Great Seth in Codex VII, the heavenly Christ's death is
said to have never happened. Jesus was thought by some to have suffered and
died, but the rulers got the wrong man. The Second Treatise of the Great Seth
says (rather like Basilides, according to Irenaeus of Lyon) that Simon of
Cyrene (who in Mark 15:21, Matthew 27:32, and Luke 23:26 is enlisted to help
Jesus carry the cross) was involved in events leading up to the crucifixion,
and that another—perhaps Simon, perhaps the body that Jesus adopted—

475. 466 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
was crucified, while Jesus stood above it all, laughing at the ignorance and
foolishness of the rulers. (Similar interpretations may be found in the Qur'an
and other Islamic accounts of the death or apparent death of Tsa, that is,
Jesus.) The present text also polemicizes against "those who think that they
are advancing the name of Christ" but end up persecuting the gnostics, who,
Jesus says, "have been liberated by me." These hostile people in the emerging
orthodox church, the text claims, are confused in their christology, and they
proclaim "a doctrine of a dead man," according to which they believe, quite
mistakenly, that they should worship, follow, and imitate a dead, crucified
Christ. Unlike the gnostics, Jesus observes, they do not have "the knowledge
of the greatness that it is from above and from a fountain of truth."
The Second Treatise of the Great Seth is another text from the Nag Ham-madi
library, and like other texts in the collection it was composed in Greek.
Gregory Riley suggests a date of composition in the second half of the second
century, in part on the basis of the characterization of the opponents in the
emerging orthodox church as small (or, few, of little account) and ignorant
(or uninstructed). He guesses that Alexandria may be a possible place of com­position.
The Second Treatise of the Great Seth does not give a systematic
treatment of its gnostic themes, but some ideas of Sethian and Valentinian
character may be identified. Many of the characters in the Second Treatise of
the Great Seth are also presented in the Secret Book of John and other gnostic
texts in this volume.
THE SECOND TREATISE
OF THE GREAT SETH1
I AM IN YOU AND YOU IN ME
The perfect majesty is at rest in the ineffable light, in the truth of the mother2
of all these, and all of you that attain to me, to me alone who am perfect,
i. The Second Treatise of the Great Seth: Nag Hammadi library, Codex VII,2, pp. 49,10 to 70,12;
translated by Roger A. Bullard and Joseph A. Gibbons in Robinson, Nag Hammadi Library in
English, rev. ed., pp. 363-71; modified in consultation with the translation by Gregory Riley in
Pearson, Nag Hammadi Codex VII, pp. 129-99 and revised by Willis Barnstone.
2. Gregory Riley translates this as "the truth, the mother" (personified truth is then understood
to be the mother), on the basis of the assumed Greek original (in Pearson, Nag Hammadi
Codex VII, pp. 146-47).

476. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 467
because of the word. For I exist with all the greatness of the spirit, which is a
friend to us and our kindred alike. Since I brought forth a word to the glory
of our father, through his goodness, as well as an imperishable thought, that
is, the word within him, it is slavery that we should die with Christ,3 with im­perishable
and undefiled thought. This is an incomprehensible marvel, the
writing of the ineffable water, which is the word from us: I am in you and
you are in me, just as the father is in you in innocence.4
I COME FROM ABOVE AND AM INCARNATED
Let us gather an assembly together. Let us visit that creation of his. Let us
send someone forth in it, so that he may visit the thoughts5 in the regions
below. And I said these things to the whole multitude of the great assembly
of the rejoicing majesty. The whole house of the father of truth rejoiced that
I am the one who is from them. I reflected upon the thoughts that came out
of the undefiled spirit about the descent upon the water, that is, the regions
below. And they all had a single mind, since it is from one source. They or­dered
me, and because I was willing, I came forth to reveal the glory to my
kindred and my fellow spirits.
For those who were in the world had been prepared by the will of our sis­ter
Sophia—she who is a whore6—because of her innocence that has not
been uttered. And she did not ask anything from the realm of all, nor from
the greatness of the assembly, nor from the pleroma, when she previously
came forth to prepare lodgings and places for the son of light and the
fellow workers. She took materials from the elements below to build bodily
dwellings from them. But having come into being in an empty glory, they
ended in destruction in the dwellings in which they were. Since they were
prepared by Sophia, they stand ready to receive the life-giving word of the
ineffable One7 and the greatness of the assembly of all those who persevere
and those who are in me.
3. This statement reflects the Pauline and Christian doctrines of dying with Christ, for exam­ple,
in baptism. Here dying with Christ is not treated in so favorable a manner.
4. See John 17:21-23.
5. Greek ennoia, here and below.
6. Sophia as whore recalls the actions and descriptions of Sophia in the Secret Book of John,
Helena as the first thought of the gnostic teacher Simon Magus, the soul in the Exegesis on the
Soul, and Derdekeas as the sexual partner of nature in the Paraphrase of Shem.
7. Monad.

477. 468 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
I visited a bodily dwelling.81 cast out the one who was in it first, and I went
in. And the whole multitude of the rulers became troubled. And all the matter
of the rulers as well as all the powers born of the earth were shaken when they
saw the likeness of the image, since it was mixed. And I was the one who was
in the image, not resembling him who was in the body first. For he was an
earthly man, but I, I am from above the heavens. I did not refuse them even to
become Christ, but I did not reveal myself to them in the love that was com­ing
forth from me. I revealed that I am a stranger to the regions below.
THE RULERS ARE DISTURBED
There was a great disturbance in the whole earthly area, with confusion and
flight, as well as in the plan of the rulers. And some were persuaded, when
they saw the wonders that were being accomplished by me. And all those fled,
those of the race that descended from the one who fled from the throne to
the Sophia of hope, since she had earlier given the sign concerning us and all
the ones with me—those of the race of Adonaios.9 Others also fled, as though
sent from the world ruler10 and those with him, and brought every kind of
punishment upon me. And there was a flight of their mind about what they
would counsel concerning me, thinking that their own greatness is all, and
speaking false witness, moreover, against the human and the whole greatness
of the assembly.11 It was not possible for them to know who is the father of
truth, the human of greatness. They took the name because of contact with
ignorance—which is a burning and a vessel created to destroy Adam, whom
they had made, in order to cover up those who are theirs in the same way. But
they, the rulers, of the place of Yaldabaoth, reveal the realm of the angels,
which human beings were seeking because they did not know the human of
truth. For Adam, whom they had formed, appeared to them. And a fearful
disturbance came about throughout their entire dwelling, lest the angels sur­rounding
them rebel. For on account of those who were offering praise I
died, but not really, because their archangel was vacuous.
8. The heavenly Christ takes a body and assumes bodily form.
9. Adonaios is one of the rulers in the cosmic bureaucracy, sometimes also called Sabaoth, who
is closely linked to Yaldabaoth. Elsewhere Sabaoth, or Adonaios, rebels against his father Yald­abaoth
and turns to Sophia.
10. Greek cosmocrator, here and below.
11. The human is a name of a divine being, sometimes the divine mother or the heavenly
Adam, in gnostic texts. The image of the heavenly human is the pattern for the creation of
earthly humankind.

478. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 469
THE WORLD RULER TRIES TO KILL ME
And then a voice of the world ruler came to the angels: "I am god and there is
no other god but me."12 But I laughed joyfully when I examined his conceit.13
But he went on to say, "Who is the human ?" And the entire host of his angels
who had seen Adam and his dwelling were laughing at his smallness. And thus
did their thought come to be removed outside the majesty of the heavens,
away from the human of truth, whose name they saw, since he is in a small
dwelling place. They are foolish and senseless in their empty thought, namely,
their laughter, and it was contagion for them.
The whole greatness of the fatherhood of the spirit was at rest in its
places. And I was with him, since I have a thought of a single emanation from
the eternal ones and the unknowable ones, undefiled and immeasurable. I
placed the small thought in the world, having disturbed them and frightened
the whole multitude of the angels and their ruler. And I was visiting them all
with fire and flame because of my thought. And everything pertaining to
them was brought about because of me. And there came about a disturbance
and a fight around the seraphim and cherubim, since their glory will fade,
and there was confusion around Adonaios on both sides and around their
dwelling, up to the world ruler and the one who said, "Let us seize him." Oth­ers
again said, "The plan will certainly not materialize." For Adonaics knows
me because of hope. And I was in the mouths of lions. And as for the plan
that they devised about me to release their error and their senselessness, I did
not succumb to them as they had planned. And I was not afflicted at all.
Those who were there punished me, yet I did not die in reality but in appear­ance,
in order that I not be put to shame by them because these are my kins­folk.
I removed the shame from me, and I did not become fainthearted in the
face of what happened to me at their hands. I was about to succumb to fear,
and I suffered merely according to their sight and thought so that no word
might ever be found to speak about them. For my death, which they think
happened, happened to them in their error and blindness, since they nailed
their man unto their death.14 Their thoughts did not see me, for they were
deaf and blind. But in doing these things, they condemn themselves. Yes, they
12. Isaiah 45:5-6, 21; 46:9. In the Secret Book of John and elsewhere the same arrogant claim is
made by Yaldabaoth.
13. The image of the laughing Jesus that appears here and below also appears in the Gospel of
Philip and the Round Dance of the Cross, both in this volume.
14. It is unclear who is crucified here: Simon of Cyrene or the body that Jesus adopted.

479. 470 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
saw me; they punished me. It was another, their father, who drank the gall
and the vinegar; it was not I. They struck me with the reed; it was another,
Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder. It was another upon whom they
placed the crown of thorns.15 But I was rejoicing in the height over all the
wealth of the rulers and the offspring of their error, of their empty glory. And
I was laughing at their ignorance.
JESUS DESCENDS INCOGNITO AND
LIBERATES THE GNOSTICS
And I subjected all their powers. For as I came downward, no one saw me. For
I was altering my shapes, changing from form to form. And so when I was at
their gates I assumed their likeness.16 For I passed them by quietly, and I was
viewing the places, and I was neither afraid nor ashamed, for I was undefiled.
And I was speaking with them, mingling with them through those who are
mine, and trampling on those who are harsh to them with zeal, and quench­ing
the flame. And I was doing all these things because of my desire to accom­plish
what I desired by the will of the father above.
And the son of the majesty, who was hidden in the region below, we
brought to the height where I am with all these aeons, which no one has seen
or known, where the wedding of the wedding robe is, the new one and not
the old, which does not perish. For it is a new and perfect bridal chamber of
the heavens, and I have revealed that there are three ways, which are an unde­filed
mystery in a spirit of this aeon, which does not perish, nor is it fragmen­tary,
nor able to be spoken of; rather, it is undivided, universal, and permanent.
For the soul, the one from the height, will not speak about the error that is
here, nor transfer from these aeons, since it will be transferred when it be­comes
free and endowed with nobility in the world, standing before the father
without weariness and fear, always mixed with the mind17 of power and of
form. They will see me from every side without hatred. For since they see me,
they are being seen and are mixed with them. Since they did not put me to
15. As noted in the introduction to this text, Simon of Cyrene takes the place of Jesus during
events leading up to the crucifixion in the Second Treatise of the Great Seth, as in the thought
of Basilides.
16. These are the heavenly gates, guarded by cosmic powers, that must be passed by the person
descending from above or ascending to the divine.
17. Greek nous.

480. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 471
shame, they were not put to shame. Since they were not afraid before me, they
will pass by every gate without fear and will be perfected in the third glory.18
It was my cross that the world did not accept, my apparent exaltation, my
third baptism in a revealed image.19 When they had fled from the fire of the
seven authorities, and the sun of the powers of the rulers set, darkness over­took
them. And the world became poor. After they bound him with many re­straints,
they nailed him to the cross, and they fastened him with four nails of
brass.20 The veil of his temple he tore with his hands. There was a trembling
that overcame the chaos of the earth, for the souls that were in the sleep below
were released, and they arose. They walked about boldly, having shed jealousy
of ignorance and unlearnedness beside the dead tombs; having put on the
new human; having come to know that perfect blessed one of the eternal and
incomprehensible father and the infinite light, which is I.21 When I came to
my own and united them with myself, there was no need for many words, for
our thought was with their thought. Therefore they knew what I was saying,
for we took counsel about the destruction of the rulers. And therefore I did the
will of the father, who is I.
After we left from our home and came down to this world and came into
being in the world in bodies, we were hated and persecuted, not only by those
who are ignorant22 but also by those who think that they are advancing the
name of Christ, since they were unknowingly empty, not knowing who they
are, like dumb animals.23 They persecuted those who have been liberated by
me,24 since they hate them—those who, should they shut their mouth, would
weep with a profitless groaning because they did not fully know me. Instead,
they served two masters, even a multitude.25 But you will become victorious
18. The chosen ones must pass through the heavenly gates mentioned earlier in the text.
19. Gregory Riley suggests that the three baptisms of Jesus are birth, baptism in water, and here,
crucifixion, that is, baptism in blood (in Pearson, NagHammadi Codex VII, p. 171).
20. This is the apparent crucifixion of Jesus, when another is crucified instead.
21. See Matthew 27:51-53, with the tearing of the temple curtain, the earthquake, and the rais­ing
of dead bodies.
22. These may be ordinary unbelievers, plain folks who are material people of body and flesh
only. The description of the kinds of people in this text resembles the Valentinian threefold
designation of people of body, soul, and spirit (hylics, psychics, and pneumatics).
23. These are ordinary Christians, leaders or members of the emerging orthodox church—in
Valentinian terms, people of soul.
24. These are the gnostics, the free spirits—in Valentinian terms, people of spirit.
25. See Matthew 6:24. Jesus here seems to maintain that these ordinary Christians serve Christ
and the ruler of the world, Yaldabaoth.

481. 472 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
in everything, in war and battles, jealous division and wrath. In the upright­ness
of our love we are innocent, pure, and good, since we have the mind of
the father in an ineffable mystery.
THE IGNORANT RULERS AND
THE PERFECT ONES
For it was ludicrous. It is I who bear witness that it was ludicrous, since the
rulers do not know that this is an ineffable union of undefiled truth, as exists
among the children of light, of which they made an imitation, having pro­claimed
a doctrine of a dead man and lies so as to resemble the freedom and
purity of the perfect assembly, and having joined themselves in their doctrine
to fear and slavery, worldly cares, and abandoned worship, being small and ig­norant,
since they do not contain the nobility of the truth. For they hate the
one in whom they are and love the one in whom they are not. For they did not
know the knowledge of the greatness that it is from above and from a fountain
of truth and not from slavery and jealousy, fear, and love of worldly matter.
For that which is not theirs and that which is theirs they use fearlessly and
freely. They do not desire because they have authority, and they have a law
from themselves over whatever they will wish.26
But those who have not are poor, that is, those who possess nothing, and
yet they desire something. And they lead astray those who, through them, have
become like those who possess the truth of their freedom, so as to bring us
under a yoke and constraint of care and fear. This person is in slavery. And one
who is brought by constraint of force and threat has been guarded by god. But
the entire nobility of the fatherhood is not guarded, since he guards what is his
own by himself, without word and constraint. He is united with his will, he
who belongs only to the thought of the fatherhood, to make it perfect and in­effable
through the living water, to be with you mutually in wisdom, not only
in word of hearing but in deed and fulfilled word. For the perfect ones are
worthy to be established in this way and to be united with me, in order that
they may not share in any enmity, in a good friendship. I accomplish every­thing
through the good one, for this is the union of the truth, that they should
have no adversary. But everyone who brings division—and such a one will
26. Ordinary Christians still observe the law, for example, the Torah and ten commandments
within the Torah.

482. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 473
learn no wisdom at all, because he brings division and is not a friend—is hos­tile
to them all. But one who lives in harmony and friendship of brotherly love,
naturally and not artificially, completely and not partially, this person is truly
the desire of the father. This is the universal one and perfect love.
THE COUNTERFEIT FATHERS
For Adam was a laughingstock,27 since he was made a counterfeit type of man
by the realm of seven,28 as if he had become stronger than my brothers and
me. We are innocent with respect to him, since we have not sinned. And Abra­ham
and Isaac and Jacob were a laughingstock, since they, the counterfeit fa­thers,
were given a name by the realm of seven, as if he had become stronger
than my brothers and me. We are innocent with respect to him, since we have
not sinned. David was a laughingstock in that his son was named the human
son, having been influenced by the realm of seven, as if he had become
stronger than the fellow members of my race and me. But we are innocent
with respect to him; we have not sinned. Solomon was a laughingstock, since
he thought that he was Christ,29 having become vain through the realm of
seven, as if he had become stronger than my brothers and me. But we are in­nocent
with respect to him. I have not sinned. The twelve prophets were
laughingstocks, since they have come forth as imitations of the true prophets.
They came into being as counterfeits through the realm of seven, as if he had
become stronger than my brothers and me. But we are innocent with respect
to it, since we have not sinned. Moses, a faithful servant,30 was a laughing­stock,
having been named the friend,31 since they perversely bore witness con­cerning
him, who never knew me. Neither he nor those before him, from
Adam to Moses and John the baptizer, none of them knew me or my brothers.
For they had a doctrine of angels to observe dietary laws and bitter slav­ery,
since they never knew truth, nor will they know it. For there is a great de­ception
upon their soul making it impossible for them ever to find a mind of
27. All the heroes of the Jews are laughingstocks, because they are lackeys of the ruler of the
world, Yaldabaoth.
28. Or hebdomad, the realm of the planets. Here the realm of seven is closely connected to the
ruler of the world, Yaldabaoth.
29. Or messiah, anointed one, as kings are anointed.
30. See Numbers 12:7; Hebrews 3:5.
31. See Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23.

483. 474 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
freedom in order to know him, until they come to know the human son.
Now, concerning my father, I am he whom the world did not know, and be­cause
of this, the world rose up against my brothers and me. But we are inno­cent
with respect to it; we have not sinned.
For the ruler was a laughingstock because he said, "I am god, and there is
none greater than 1.1 alone am the father, the lord, and there is no other god
but me. I am a jealous god, who brings the sins of the fathers upon the chil­dren
for three and four generations."32 As if he had become stronger than my
brothers and me! But we are innocent with respect to him, in that we have not
sinned, since we mastered his teaching. Thus he is in an empty glory and does
not agree with our father. And so through our fellowship we overcame his
teaching, since he was vain in an empty glory. And he does not agree with our
father, for he was a laughingstock with judgment and false prophecy.
O you who do not see, who do not see your blindness, that this is who was
not known. They have never known him, nor have they known about him.
They did not listen to a reliable report. Therefore they proceeded in a judg­ment
of error, and they raised their defiled and murderous hands against him
as if they were beating the air. And the senseless and blind ones are always
senseless, always being slaves of law and earthly fear.
I AM CHRIST, THE HUMAN SON
I am Christ, the human son, the one from you who is in you. I am despised for
your sake, in order that you yourselves may forget what is subject to change.
And do not become female,33 lest you give birth to evil and its brothers: jeal­ousy
and division, anger and wrath, fear and a divided heart, and empty, non­existent
desire. But I am an ineffable mystery to you.
Then before the foundation of the world, when the whole multitude of
the assembly came together upon the places of the realm of eight,34 when
they had taken counsel, they married spiritually, which is in union. And thus
he was perfected in the ineffable places by a living word, and the undefiled
wedding was consummated through the mediation of Jesus, who inhabits
32. See Isaiah 45:5-6,21; 46:9; also Exodus 20:5; Isaiah 44:6; the Secret Book of John and other
gnostic texts.
33. Femaleness may symbolize this world, maleness the world above, as in Gospel of Thomas
114 and the Sermon of Zostrianos.
34. Or ogdoad, the realm of the stars.

484. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 475
them all and possesses them, who abides in an undivided power of love. And
turning, he appears to himself as the One of all these, a thought and a father,
since he is one. And he stands over against them all, since he as a whole came
forth alone. And he is life, since he came from the father of ineffable and per­fect
truth,35 the father of those who are there, the union of peace and a friend
of good things, and life eternal and undefiled joy, in a great harmony of life
and faith, through eternal life of fatherhood and motherhood and sisterhood
and rational wisdom. They had agreed with the mind, who stretches out and
will stretch out in joyful union and is trustworthy and faithfully listens. And
this is in fatherhood and motherhood and rational brotherhood and wis­dom.
And this is a wedding of truth, and a repose of incorruption, in a spirit
of truth, in every mind, and a perfect light in an unnameable mystery. But
this is not, nor will it happen among us, in any region or place in division and
breach of peace, but it is in union and a banquet of love, all being perfected
in the one who is.
It also happened in the places under heaven for their reconciliation. Those
who knew me in salvation and undividedness, and those who existed for the
glory of the father and the truth, having been separated, blended into the One
through the living word. And I am in the spirit and the truth of the mother­hood,
since unity was there, just as I was among those who are united in the
friendship of friends forever. They know neither hostility at all, nor evil, but
are united by my knowledge in word and peace, which exists in perfection
with everyone and in them all. And those who assumed the form of my type
will assume the form of my word. Indeed, these will come forth in light for­ever,
and in friendship with each other in the spirit, since they have known in
every respect and indivisibly that the one who is, is one. And all of these are
one. And thus they will learn about the One, as well as the assembly and those
dwelling in it. For the father of all of these exists, being immeasurable and im­mutable:
mind and word and division and envy and fire. And he is entirely
one, being all with them all in a single doctrine, because all these are from a
single spirit. O unseeing ones, why did you not know the mystery rightly?
But the rulers around Yaldabaoth were disobedient because of the thought
who went down to him from her sister Sophia. They made for themselves a
union with those who were with them in a mixture of a fiery cloud, which was
their envy, and the rest, who were brought forth by their creatures, as if they
35. See John 14:6.

485. 476 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
had bruised the noble pleasure of the assembly. And therefore they revealed a
mixture of ignorance in a counterfeit image of fire and earth and a murderer,
since they are small and untaught, without knowledge, having dared these
things, but not having understood that light has fellowship with light, and
darkness with darkness, and the corruptible with the perishable, and the im­perishable
with the incorruptible.
REST WITH ME FOREVER
Now, these things I have presented to you—I, Jesus Christ, the human son,
who is exalted above the heavens—O perfect and incorruptible ones, because
of the incorruptible and perfect and ineffable mystery. But they think that
we decreed them before the foundation of the world in order that when we
emerge from the places of the world, we may present there the symbols of
incorruption from the spiritual union with knowledge. You do not know
this because the fleshly cloud overshadows you. But I alone am the friend
of Sophia.36 I have been in the bosom of the father from the beginning,37 in
the place of the children of the truth and the greatness. Rest then with me,
my fellow spirits and my brothers and sisters, forever.
36. Or "the friend of wisdom."
37. See John 1:18.

486. 30
The Gospel of Mary
• he Gospel of Mary is a gospel written in the name of Mary of
I Magdala, a follower of Jesus according to a number of early Chris-
J L tian texts and his dear companion according to the Gospel of
Philip. In the Gospel of Mary she is said to be loved by Jesus more than the
other followers, but Peter and Andrew wonder whether she can be taken seri­ously
as a female teacher of revelatory wisdom. This dispute between Mary
and the male followers of Jesus reflects the argument between gnostics and
representatives of the emerging orthodox church about whether women can
teach in church and whether private revelatory teachings can have the same
authority as the official teachings of the priests and bishops.
After six missing pages, the Gospel of Mary introduces Jesus speaking
about sin, and Jesus proclaims that sin is not an ethical problem but rather a
cosmological problem, as Karen L. King puts it.1 Sin is the material mixing
improperly with the spiritual. Thereafter Mary recounts a vision of the soul's
ascent beyond four cosmic powers (perhaps the four elements), in a passage
that unfortunately is largely missing from the manuscript. After a hostile en­counter
between Mary and the male followers of Jesus, Levi intercedes, invit­ing
all the followers of Jesus to put on the perfect person and go out to
preach, without establishing any additional rules or laws. And, the Gospel of
Mary concludes, that is what they did.
i. Karen L. King, "The Gospel of Mary," in Robinson, Nag Hammadi Library in English, rev. ed.,
P- 523.

487. 478 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
The Gospel of Mary was composed in Greek, probably in the second cen­tury.
Two fragments of the text have survived in Greek. The rest of the surviv­ing
text is preserved in Coptic in the Berlin Gnostic Codex.
THE GOSPEL OF MARY2
STUDENTS SPEAK WITH THE SAVIOR
"Will matter be destroyed or not?"
The savior said, "All natures, all formed things, all creatures exist in and
with one another and will be resolved into their own roots. The nature of mat­ter
is resolved into its nature alone. Whoever has ears to hear should hear."
Peter said to him, "Since you have explained everything to us, tell us also,
what is the sin of the world?"
The savior said, "There is no sin, but you create sin when you mingle as in
adultery, which is called sin.3 That is why the good came to be with you, to
enter the essence of each nature, and to restore it to its root." He continued,
"That is why you become sick and die, for you love what deceives you.4 Who­ever
understands should understand.
"Matter gave birth to a passion that has nothing like it and came from
what is contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in the whole body.
That is why I said to you, 'Be of good courage,'5 and if you are discouraged,
still take courage in the diverse forms of nature. Whoever has ears to hear
should hear."
When the blessed one said these things, he greeted all of them, saying,
"Peace be with you.6 Receive my peace. Be careful that no one leads you astray
2. The Gospel of Mary: Berlin Gnostic Codex 8502,1, pp. 7,1 to 19,5; translated by E. R. Hardy in
Grant, Gnosticism: An Anthology, pp. 65-68, George W. MacRae and R. McL. Wilson in Parrott,
NagHammadi Codices V, 2-5 and VI with Papyrus Berolinensis 8502,1 and 4, pp. 453-71, and
Karen L. King, MacRae, and Wilson in Robinson, NagHammadi Library in English, rev. ed., pp.
523-27; adapted by Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer.
3. On adultery as improper mingling with the world, see Herakleon's Commentary on the
Gospel of John 18, and the Exegesis on the Soul.
4. This discussion of sin recalls that of Paul in Romans 7. The clause "for you love what deceives
you" is from the reconstruction in the translation of Karen King in The Complete Gospels, p. 355.
5. See Luke 24:38; John 14:27.
6. See John 14:27; 20:19, 21, 26.

488. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 479
with 'Come over here!' or 'Go there!' The human child is within you.7 Follow
him! Those who seek him will find him. Go then and preach the gospel of the
kingdom. Do not follow any other words than these that I have commanded,
and do not establish laws, as the lawgiver did, so that you will not be bound
by them."
When he said this, he left.
MARY CONSOLES THE STUDENTS,
BUT PETER CHALLENGES HER
The students were grieved. They wept profoundly, saying, "How can we go to
the gentiles and preach the gospel of the kingdom of the human child? If they
did not spare him, will we be spared?"
Then Mary stood up, greeted them all, and said to her brothers, "Do not
weep and do not grieve or be irresolute, for his grace will be fully with you and
will protect you. Rather, let us praise his greatness. He prepared us and made
us truly human."
When Mary said this, she turned their hearts to the good, and they began
to discuss the words of the savior.
Peter said to Mary, "Sister, we know that the savior loved you more than
other women. Tell us the words of the savior that you remember, which you
know and we do not. We have not heard them."
Mary answered, saying, "What is hidden from you I will reveal to you."
She began to speak these words, saying, "I saw the lord in a vision and I said
to him, 'Lord, I saw you today in a vision.'
"He answered and said to me, 'Blessings on you, since you did not waver at
the sight of me. Where the mind is, there is the treasure.'8
"I said to him, 'Lord, how does a person see a vision, through the soul or
through the spirit?'
"The savior answered, saying, 'A person sees neither through the soul nor
the spirit. The mind, which lives between the two, sees the vision....'"
7. See Luke 17:21; Gospel of Thomas 113. "Human child".may also be translated "human son" or
"son of man," here and below.
8. See Matthew 6:21.

489. 480 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
MARY RECOUNTS HER VISION OF THE SOUL'S
ASCENT BEYOND THE POWERS
"Desire said,9 'I did not see you descending, but now I see you ascending. Why
are you lying, since you belong to me?'
"The soul answered and said, 'I saw you, but you did not see me or know
me. You perceived the garment I was wearing,10 but you did not recognize me.'
"After the soul said this, she left, rejoicing greatly.
"The soul approached the third power, called ignorance. The power ques­tioned
the soul, saying, 'Where are you going? You are bound by wickedness,
you are bound, so do not pass judgment.'
"The soul said, 'Why do you pass judgment on me, though I have not
passed judgment? I was bound, but I have not bound. I was not recognized,
but I have recognized that all is to be dissolved, both what is earthly and what
is heavenly.'
"When the soul overcame the third power, she ascended and saw the
fourth power. It took seven forms:
The first form is darkness,
the second, desire,
the third, ignorance,
the fourth, death wish,
the fifth, fleshly kingdom,
the sixth, foolish fleshly wisdom,
the seventh, angry person's wisdom.
These are the seven powers of wrath.
"The powers asked the soul, 'Where are you coming from, slayer of hu­mans,
and where are you going, conqueror of space?'
"The soul answered and said, 'What binds me is slain, what surrounds me
is destroyed, my desire is gone, ignorance is dead. In a world I was freed
through another world, and in an image I was freed through a heavenly image.
9. Pages 11-14 are missing from the Coptic text of the Gospel of Mary. Mary's vision of the
soul's ascent beyond the cosmic powers seems to have included four stages of ascent, perhaps
to describe the soul's liberation from the four elements of the material world. The name of the
first power, missing in the text, may well have been darkness (see the list of forms of the fourth
power below). The other powers are desire, ignorance, and a deadly composite power of wrath.
The soul is successful in her ascent from this world of matter and body, and she is free at last.
10. The garment of the body.

490. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 481
This is the fetter of forgetfulness that exists in the world of time. From now on
I shall rest, through time, age, and aeon, in silence."'
PETER AND ANDREW DOUBT MARY'S WORD
When Mary said this, she fell silent, since the savior had spoken to her of all
these things. But Andrew answered, saying to the brothers, "Say what you
think about what she said. I do not believe that the savior said this. These
teachings are of strange ideas."
Peter also opposed her about all this. He asked the others about the savior,
"Did he really speak to a woman secretly, without our knowledge, and not
openly? Are we to turn and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?" *l
LEVI COMES TO MARY'S DEFENSE
Then Mary wept and said to Peter, "My brother, Peter, what do you think? Do
you think I concocted this in my heart or I am lying about the savior?"
Levi answered, saying to Peter, "Peter, you are always angry. Now I see you
contending against this woman as if against an adversary. If the savior made
her worthy, who are you to reject her? Surely the savior knows her very well.
That is why he loved her more than us. We should be ashamed and put on the
perfect person12 and be with him as he commanded us, and we should preach
the gospel, without making any rule or law other than what the savior said."
When Levi said these things, they began to go out to proclaim and to
preach.
11. On the hostility of Peter against Mary, see Gospel of Thomas 114, as well as another gnostic
text, not included in this volume, entitled Pistis Sophia.
12. See "Living Water" in the Gospel of Philip.

491. 31
The Naassene Sermon
T
• n his Refutation of All Heresies, the Christian heresiologist Hippolytus
I of Rome describes certain second-century gnostics, termed Naassenes,
JL. from the Hebrew word nahash, "serpent." Such serpentine terminol­ogy
recalls Justin's Book of Baruch, earlier in this volume, and the gnostics
called Ophites or Ophians, that is, "snake people," who are sometimes linked
with Sethians. Like many gnostics, the Naassenes apparently sought spiritual
truths from a variety of sources. Hippolytus claims that they were especially
attracted to the mystery religions of antiquity and late antiquity, which typi­cally
stressed mystical experience in the context of a dying and rising deity
and which the Naassenes interpreted in such a way as to elucidate their own
beliefs. These were alternative forms of religion in a post-Olympian world.
When the Olympian gods and goddesses no longer captured the hearts and
minds of people, many turned for their religious experience to the myster­ies
of Demeter and Kore; or Dionysos; or the Great Mother and Attis, the
Phrygian fertility god; or Isis and Osiris; or Mithras—or Jesus Christ, whom
people like Clement of Alexandria understood to be a deity of Christian
mysteries.
The Naassenes, according to Hippolytus, attended the mystery celebra­tions—
for example, the mysteries of the Great Mother and Attis—to gain
insights into religious knowledge and life. In presenting materials on the
Naassenes, Hippolytus cites hymns to Attis and a Naassene sermon that ex­plains
how themes from the mysteries contribute to their understanding of
their own religion of gnosis. As Hippolytus portrays the Naassenes, he notes
two sayings (one of which, he explicitly says, comes from the Gospel of

492. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 483
Thomas) that constitute alternative versions of Gospel of Thomas 4 and 11;
the parallel to Gospel of Thomas 11 is in the translation below. Many of the ex­planations
in the sermon are based on suggested—and forced—proof texts
and etymologies in the text.
The two hymns and the sermon given here are taken from Hippolytus's
Refutation of All Heresies 5.6.3-11.1 (see also 10.9.1-3). Another hymn is
quoted at Refutation of All Heresies 5.9.9:
I shall sing of Attis, son of Rhea,
not with the clang of bells nor with the flute,
nor with the bellowing of the Kouretes of Ida,
but I shall tune it to the muse of Phoebus's lyre.
All hail, all hail—as Pan, as Bacchus,
as shepherd of the shining stars.
THE NAASSENE SERMON1
SONG TO ATTIS
Whether you are the offspring of Kronos,2
or the blessed child of Zeus3 or great Rhea,4
hail to you, Attis,5 at whose name Rhea looks down.
Assyrians call you thrice-lamented Adonis;6
1. The Naassene Sermon and two hymns: from Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies 5.6.3-11.1
(M. Marcovich, ed., Hippolyti refutationis omnium haeresium librorum decern quae supersunt,
Patristische Texte und Studien 25); translated by Robert M. Grant in Gnosticism: An Anthology,
pp. 105-15). Naassene song also translated by J. F. Henry in Haardt, ed., Gnosis: Character and
Testimony, pp. 99-100); revised in verse and prose by Willis Barnstone. Grant's convention of
placing the song to Attis before the sermon commenting on it is followed here. Of the long dis­cussion
on the Naassenes, we reproduce, with Grant, Hippolytus's Refutation of All Heresies
5.9.8; 5-7-3-8; 5-8-1-5; 5-8-9-9-6; 5-10.2.
2. Kronos is a Greek god, the ruler of the Titans and father of Zeus.
3. Zeus is the Greek father god and the ruler of the Olympian deities.
4. Rhea is a Greek goddess, the wife of Kronos and mother of Zeus.
5. Attis is a Phrygian eunuch, the lover of the Great Mother, who mirrors the interests of the
dying and rising deities.
6. Adonis, the lover of Aphrodite, is a youth whose name means "lord" in Semitic languages
and who dies and rises.

493. 4^4 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
all Egypt, Osiris;7
Greek wisdom, the heavenly crescent moon;
Samothracians, venerable Adamas;8
people of Haimos, corybant;9
Phrygians, sometimes Papas,10
sometimes corpse or god or sterile
or goatherd or harvested green sheaf
or flute player whom the fertile almond brought forth.
SERMON
The Greeks say that earth first brought forth a human, bearing a good gift,
who wished to become the mother not of insensible plants or of irrational an­imals
but of a tame animal loved by god.
The Assyrians claim that among them was born Oannes the fish eater.11
The Chaldaeans mention Adam and say that this person was the only one
whom the earth produced. He lay without breath and motionless and im­movable
like a statue. He was an image of that human above, Adamas, and
was made by many powers.
The great human from above, from whom he and "every family existing on
earth and in the heavens"12 is derived, had to be completely submissive. There­fore
he was given a soul,13 so that through the soul the enslaved creature of the
great and most excellent and perfect human might suffer and be punished.
They also ask what the soul is and where it originates and what its
nature is, since it enters human beings and, by its movement, enslaves and
punishes the creature of the perfect being on earth. They inquire not from
the scriptures but from mystical doctrines.
If you say that everything originated from one principle, you are wrong, but
if you say it came from three, you are right and can prove the whole matter.
7. Osiris is an Egyptian god of moisture, kingship, and the underworld, and the husband of Isis.
He also dies and yet lives on as king of the underworld.
8. Adamas is the primal human.
9. A corybant (or korybant) is an ecstatic celebrant sometimes linked to the Great Mother of
Phrygia. Haimos is the name of a river in Thrace.
10. Papas is a name connected to Attis, possibly related to Papa.
11. Oannes is the Mesopotamian god of wisdom and is part man and part fish.
12. Ephesians 3:15.
13. The animating, as opposed to immortal, soul.

494. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 485
There is one blessed nature of the blessed Adam above, who is Adamas. There
is one mortal nature below. And there is one kingless race that has ascended
above where are the sought-after Miriam, the grand wise man Jethro and Zip-porah
the seer,14 and Moses, whose origin is not in Egypt because he had sons
in Midian.
The poets also knew this.
"All things were divided in three, and each received his lot of honor."15
The great things must be expressed, but expressed by everyone in every pos­sible
way so "that hearing they may not hear and seeing may not see."16 If the
great things had not been expressed, the universe could not have come into
existence. These are three supremely important words: Kaulakau, Saulasau,
and Zeesar17—Kaulakau, the one above Adamas; Saulasau, the mortal below;
and Zeesar, the Jordan that flows upward.
This is the male and female person who is in all, whom the ignorant call
three-bodied Geryon as if his name meant "flowing from the earth."18 The
Greeks generally call him "the heavenly horn of the moon," because he has
mixed and combined everything with everything else. "For all things came
into existence through him, and apart from him nothing came into existence.
What came into existence in him is life."19 "Life" is the ineffable race of perfect
human beings unknown to previous generations. "Nothing" that "came into
existence . . . apart from him" is the world proper, and the world proper came
into existence apart from him, and was made by the third and fourth gods.
ATTIS
This is the great and ineffable mystery of the Samothracians that only those
of us who are perfect are allowed to know. In their mysteries the Samothra­cians
have the explicit tradition that Adam is the archetypal human. In the
temple of the Samothracians are two statues of naked men, with both hands
raised toward heaven and with their male members erect like the statue of
14. Miriam, Jethro, and Zipporah were, respectively, Moses' sister and his Midianite father-in-law
and wife.
15. Homer, Iliad 15.189.
16. Matthew 13:13; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:40, all citing Isaiah 6:9-10.
17. Three words derived from the Hebrew of Isaiah 28:10.
18. Greekge-rheon.
19. John 1:3-4-

495. 486 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
Hermes in Cyllene.20 These statues are images of the first man and of the
regenerated spiritual man who in every respect possesses the same nature as
the first one.
This is what the savior meant when he said, "Unless you drink my blood
and eat my flesh, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.21 But if you drink
the cup which I drink22 you cannot enter where I go."23 For he knew the na­ture
of each of his students, and he knew that each had to find his proper na­ture.
He chose twelve students from the twelve tribes, and through them he
spoke to every tribe. But not everyone hears the preaching of the twelve stu­dents,
and if they do hear, they cannot accept them. For what is not according
to nature is unnatural for them.24
CORYBANT
This human is called corybant by the Thracians who live by the Haimos River,
and the Phrygians give him a similar name, because from the top of the head25
and from the unimprinted brain he begins his descent and passes through all
the elements of the lower parts. We do not know how and in what way he
comes down. This is the meaning of "we heard his voice but we did not see his
appearance."26 One hears his voice when he has been separated and imprinted,
but no one knows what form he takes when he comes down from above, from
the unimprinted one. It is in the earthly creature, but no one knows it. This is
the "god who dwells in the flood waters," according to the psalm book, and
who mumbles and cries out "from many waters."27 The "many waters" is the
manifold race of people from which he shouts and cries to the unimprinted
human, saying, "Save my only daughter from the lions."28 To him was said,
"You are my child, Israel. Do not fear. If you go through rivers, they will not
engulf you, and if you go through fire it will not burn you."29 Rivers are the
20. Hermes is the Greek messenger god and, as Hermes Trismegistos, the god of Hermetic
religion.
21. John 6:53.
22. Mark 10:38.
23. John 8:21.
24. This relates to the ancient discussion oiphysis, nature.
25. Greek koryphe.
26. Deuteronomy 4:12.
27. Psalm 29:3.
28. Psalm 22:21-22.
29. Isaiah 41:8; 43:2.

496. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 487
moist matter of generation; fire is the impulse and desire for generation: "You
are mine, do not fear." And again, "If a mother forgets to pity her children or
to suckle them, I too will forget you," Adamas tells those who belong to him,
"but if a woman forgets these things, I will not forget you. I have painted you
on my hands."30
And concerning his ascent, which is the regeneration by which he becomes
spiritual and not carnal, scripture says,
Let your rulers lift up the gates,
and be lifted up, eternal gates,
and the king of glory will enter.31
This is the wonder of wonders, for "who is this king of glory?"32 "A worm
and no man, the reproach of a man and the one rejected by the people."33
"This is the king of glory, the one mighty in war."34 "War" means the war in
the body, for the creature was formed out of conflicting elements. As it is writ­ten,
"Remember the war"—which takes place in the body.35 Jacob saw this en­trance
and this gate when he went into Mesopotamia, when he passed from
childhood to youth and manhood. Mesopotamia is the course of the great
ocean, flowing from the midst of the perfect human. And he marveled at the
heavenly gate, saying, "How fearful is this place. It is no other than the house
of god, and this is the gate of heaven."36 For this reason Jesus says," I am the
true gate."37 He who speaks in this way is the perfect being, imprinted from
above from the unimprinted one. The perfect being cannot be saved unless he
is regenerated and enters through this gate.
PAPAS
The same human is also called Papas by the Phrygians because he stopped every­thing38
that was in a disorderly and confused motion before his appearance.
30. Isaiah 49:15.
31. Psalm 24:7, 9.
32. Psalm 24:10.
33. Psalm 22:7.
34. Psalm 24:10, 8.
35. Job 41:8.
36. Genesis 28:17.
37. John 10:9.
38. Greek epausen panta.

497. 488 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
The name Papas belongs to everyone "in heaven, on earth, and under the
earth."39 This is true when they say, "Stop, stop"40 the discord of the universe
and make "peace for those far off," who are the material and earthly beings,
and bring "peace to those near,"41 who are spiritual and intelligent and
perfect.
FROM CORPSE TO GOD
The Phrygians also call him corpse, because he is buried in the body as in a
sepulcher and tomb. This is the meaning of "You are whitened tombs, full of
dead men's bones within, since there is no living man among you,"42 and
again, "the dead will come forth from the sepulchers,"43 from the earthly bod­ies,
being regenerated as spiritual beings, not carnal. This is the resurrection
that takes place through the gate of the heavens. All those who do not enter
through it remain dead.
The Phrygians call him god when he has been transformed. He becomes
god when he rises from the dead and through such a gate enters into heaven.
The messenger Paul knew this gate. He half opened it in a mystery and said
that he had been seized by an angel and "taken to the second and third
heaven, to paradise itself," where he saw what he saw, and "heard ineffable
words that a man is not allowed to relate."44 These are the ineffable mysteries
of which all people speak, "which we speak in words taught not by human
wisdom but by the spirit, by explaining spiritual matters to the spiritual. The
psychical people do not accept what belongs to the spirit of god. To them it is
nonsense."45
These are the ineffable mysteries of the spirit, which we alone know. The
savior said of them, "No one can come to me unless my heavenly father draws
him."46 But it is exceedingly difficult to receive and to absorb this great and in­effable
mystery. And again, the savior said, "Not everyone who says to me,
lord, lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but one who does the will of
39. Philippians 2:10.
40. Greek paue, paue.
41. Ephesians 2:17.
42. Matthew 23:27.
43. John 5:28-29?
44. 2 Corinthians 12:2-4.
45.1 Corinthians 2:13-14.
46. John 6:44.

498. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 489
my father in heaven."47 And to show that doers, not only hearers, must enter
the kingdom of heaven, he said again, "The tax collectors and prostitutes pre­cede
you into the kingdom of heaven."48 Tax collectors49 are those who receive
duties50 on everything, and we are the tax collectors "to whom the taxes of the
aeons have come."51 The taxes or perfections are the seeds sown in the uni­verse
by the unimprinted one. Through them the whole universe is com­pleted.
52 Through them it began to come into existence. This is the meaning
of the saying, "The sower went out to sow, and some seed fell by the way and
were trodden down. Others fell on rocky ground and sprang up and, because
they had no depth, withered and died. And others fell on beautiful and good
ground and produced fruit—one into a hundred, another into sixty, another
into thirty. Whoever has ears to hear should hear."53 This signifies that no one
has been a hearer of these mysteries except the perfect gnostics alone. This is
the beautiful and good that Moses mentions, "I will lead you into a beautiful
and good land, into a land flowing with milk and honey."54 Honey and milk
are what the perfect ones taste to become kingless and to share in the pleroma.
The pleroma is that through which all created beings come into existence and
are completed from the uncreated.
STERILE
The Phrygians also give him the name sterile. He is sterile when he is fleshly
and performs the "lust of the flesh."55 This is what is meant by "every tree
that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and cast into fire."56 The
fruits are only the rational, the living people, who enter through the third
gate. They say, "If you ate dead things and made them living, what will you
do if you eat living things?"57 What they call "living" are rational principles
47. Matthew 7:21.
48. Matthew 21:31.
49. Greek telonai.
50. Greek tele, meaning "duties," "taxes," "fulfillment."
51.1 Corinthians 10:11. The Greek for "taxes" may be translated "fulfillment"; the Greek for
"aeons" may be translated "ages."
52. Greek synteleitai, "is completed," from the same root as tele.
53. Matthew 13:3-9; Mark 4:3-9; Luke 8:5-8; Gospel of Thomas 9.
54. Deuteronomy 31:20.
55. Galatians 5:16.
56. Matthew 3:10; 7:19; Luke 3:9.
57. Gospel of Thomas 11.

499. 490 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
and intelligences and human beings, pearls that the unimprinted one has cast
as fruits into the creation. This is the meaning of "Do not cast what is holy to
the dogs, or pearls to swine."58 The work of swine and dogs is the intercourse
of woman with man.
GOATHERD
The Phrygians also call him goatherd,59 not because he feeds goats, as the psy­chical
people call them, but because he is ever turning,60 always turning and
circulating and impressing the whole universe with turning motion. For to
turn61 is to circulate and alter matters. That is why the two centers of the
heaven are called poles. And the poet also said,
An old man, wave dwelling, frequently comes around here,
deathless Proteus, the Egyptian.62
Poleitai does not mean that he is sold but that he turns about and goes around.
Furthermore, cities63 in which we live are so called because we turn and circu­late64
in them. So the Phrygians call aipolos the one who always turns things in
every direction and transfers them to his own domain.
FERTILE
The Phrygians also call him fertile, because "the children of the deserted
woman are more than those of the one who has a husband."65 They are those
who are reborn immortal and endure forever, even though few of them are
born. All carnal beings are perishable, even though very many of them are
born. That is why "Rachel wept for her children and did not want to be com­forted
for them, for she knew that they were no longer."66 Jeremiah too
mourns for the Jerusalem below, not the city in Phoenicia, but the perishable
58. Matthew 7:6.
59. Greek aipolos.
60. Greek aeipolos.
61. Greek polein.
62. Homer, Odyssey 4.384-85. The Greek for "comes" is poleitai.
63. Greek poleis.
64. Greek poloumen.
65. Isaiah 54:1, also cited in Galatians 4:27.
66. Jeremiah 31:15, also cited in Matthew 2:18.

500. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 491
generation below. Jeremiah knew the perfect human who is regenerated "from
water and spirit,"67 not the carnal one. It was Jeremiah who said, "He is
human, and who will know him?"68 This shows how deep and difficult it is
to comprehend the knowledge of the perfect being. The knowledge of the
human being is the beginning of perfection, while finished perfection is the
knowledge of god.
HARVESTED GREEN SHEAF
The Phrygians also call him the harvested green sheaf. According to them the
Athenians give him the same name when they hold Eleusinian initiations and
silently show the initiates the great, wondrous, and perfect mystery of the har­vested
sheaf. For the Athenians this sheaf is the perfect torch, which comes
from the unimprinted one. So the hierophant declares that he is not castrated
like Attis, but has become a eunuch by means of hemlock and has given up all
carnal generation. By night in Eleusis in full light he performs the vital and in­effable
mystery and cries out, "Brimo has borne a holy child, Brimos!" This
signifies that the powerful woman has borne a powerful child. Holy is the spir­itual
generation, and heavenly and high. One born into it is powerful. This
mystery is called Eleusis, and it occurs at the sanctuary69 of Demeter. It is
Eleusis because we the spiritual have come from above, floating down from
Adamas;70 anaktoreion is from "ascending above."71 This is what the Eleusin­ian
initiates call the great mysteries. It is law that those who are initiated into
the lesser mysteries should later be initiated into the great ones. For greater
lots acquire greater parts.72 The lesser mysteries are those of Persephone
below. Concerning these mysteries and the way that leads there, "broad and
spacious,"73 and taking the destroyed ones to Persephone, the poet said,
Beneath her is a horrible pathway, hollow and muddy.
It is excellent to lead to the lovely grove of Aphrodite
who is much honored.74
67. John 3:5.
68. Jeremiah 17:9.
69. Greek anaktoreion.
70. In Greek eleusesthai means "come."
71. Greek anelthein ano.
72. Heraclitus, fragment 25.
73. Matthew 7:13.
74. Parmenides, fragment 20.

501. 49 2 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
These are the lesser mysteries of carnal generation. After initiation into them,
people should end the lesser and be initiated into the great and heavenly ones.
Those who acquire lots connected with the latter will receive greater parts.
This is the gate of heaven and the house of god, where the good god dwells
alone, where no impure person enters, none psychical, none carnal. It is re­served
for the spiritual people alone, and those who come there must put on
the wedding garments and all become bridegrooms, made male by the vir­ginal
spirit.75 She is the virgin who is pregnant and conceives and bears a
son,76 a son who is not psychical or corporeal but is the blessed aeon of aeons.
Concerning these matters the savior expressly said, "Narrow and strait is the
way that leads to life, and there are few who enter it. But broad and spacious is
the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it."77
ALMOND AND FLUTE PLAYER
The Phrygians also say that the father of all is an almond,78 not the tree, but
that preexistent almond that has within itself the perfect fruit, palpitating and
moving in its interior. It tore open its own womb and brought forth its in­visible
and unnamable and ineffable child, of whom we are speaking. To tear
open79 is to tear open and cut through, just as physicians call scarifications80
the incisions that they make in inflamed bodies or in those that contain some
tumor. So the Phrygians call almond the being from which the invisible one
came forth and was begotten, and "through whom everything came into exis­tence
and apart from him the nonexistent was made."81 The being so born is
called flute player, because what was born is a harmonious breath or spirit.
"God is a spirit. Therefore the true worshipers will worship neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem, but in spirit."82 The worship of the perfect ones is
spiritual, not carnal. The spirit is there where the father and the son are
named, the son born of the father. He is the many-named one, many-eyed, in­comprehensible,
toward which every nature strives, and each in its own way.
75. See Gospel of Thomas 114.
76. Isaiah 7:14.
77. Matthew 7:13-14.
78. Greek amygdalos.
79. Greek amyxai.
80. Greek amychas.
81. John 1:3.
82. John 4:21, 23-24.

502. LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 493
He is the expressed word of god, which is the word of declaration of the great
power.83 So the word is sealed and hidden and veiled, lying in the dwelling on
which the root of all is founded, the root of aeons, powers, thoughts, gods,
angels, envoy spirits—existent and nonexistent, generated and ungenerated,
incomprehensible and comprehensible, years, months, days, hours, and an in­divisible
point from which the smallest being will come forth, part by part, to
grow. The nonexistent, underived, indivisible point will, by its own thought,
become an incomprehensible greatness. This is the kingdom of heaven, the
grain of mustard seed, the indivisible point existing in the body, which no one
but the spiritual ones alone know. This is the meaning of the words, "there are
no words or language, whose voices are not heard."84
NAASSENE SONG
The law of cosmic genesis was the firstborn mind,
and after the firstborn came confused chaos.
The third place in this law fell to the soul
who was clad only in the shape of a red deer in a watery form,
and she is worn away in the slavery of death.
Sometimes she gains mastery and glimpses light,
or she plunges into evil misery and weeps.
Sometimes she is mourned and is happy,
or she weeps and is condemned.
Then she is judged and finally dies.
Sometimes she is misled down a labyrinth of evils,
trapped in a corner and with no way out.
Jesus said, Look, father, she is wandering the earth
and evil is trying to catch her.
She is wandering far from your breath.
She is trying to flee bitter chaos and knows no escape.
83. Compare the Great Declaration (or Great Exposition, Apophasis megale), a work attributed
to Simon Magus.
84. Psalm 19:3.

503. 494 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
0 father, send me to her.
1 will descend, carrying the seals.
I will wander through all the aeons and uncover all mysteries.
I will disclose the forms of the gods.
And I will teach the secrets of the holy way,
whose name is gnosis.

504. PART THREE
Hermetic Literature

506. INTRODUCTION
WILLIS BARNSTONE
he Greco-Roman way of gnosis is found in the hermetic tractates attrib­uted
to Hermes Trismegistos. These extraordinary writings, from the middle
r"l""i
of the first through the end of the third centuries, make up a collection known
as the Corpus Hermeticum or the Hermetica. They often deal with the occult
sciences—alchemy, astrology, magic, and spiritual information—and reflect a
hellenistic breakdown blurring science and religion.
These writings are known as "hermetic" because of their patron and au­thor,
Hermes Trismegistos, Hermes the thrice-greatest, the Greek incarnation
of his Egyptian counterpart, the god Thoth. The images of Thoth and Hermes
merge. Thoth was creator and orderer of the universe; god of magic, wisdom,
and knowledge; inventor of writing; scribe of the gods and author of all scrip­tures;
lord of the moon; and also giver of the first word, the logos. Both he and
Hermes were believed to be master magicians of great sophistication. Thoth
gave Isis knowledge how to realize the resurrection of her son Osiris, which
served as a model for the later myth of Jesus' resurrection. Hermes was the in­tellectual,
the patron of the arts, and the speaker in platonic dialogues that
voice his philosophy and spiritual flight.
The extant texts of Hermes Trismegistos are seventeen Greek treatises
of the Corpus Hermeticum, diverse fragments in the anthology of Ioannes
Stobaios, a Latin translation of Asklepios found in the works of Apuleius,
and texts from Codex VI of the Nag Hammadi library. They may point to a
single person as editor, collector, or author of some of the major works, in­cluding
Poimandres. More likely, however, these sacred works are pseudepi-graphic,
with no possible identifiable author. In the Hermetica, the dialogue
is lively, profound, even ordinary in its speech. But there is no scent of an

507. 498 HERMETIC LITERATURE
actual Philo or Plotinos behind the anonymous speeches, or even of a shad­owy
Pseudo-Dionysios (incorrectly connected with Dionysios the Areopagite),
all of whose works bespeak the presence of a single author. On the contrary,
these hermetic writings have the character of sacred scripture of unknown
authorship typically ascribed falsely to a patriarchal figure or god—Thoth
and Hermes—all of which confirms that the great name was chosen to help
the work find entry into a sacred canon. These nominal uncertainties, how­ever,
in no way diminish the texts. The Greek epics—the Bible of classical re­ligion—
are not dulled because the twentieth century has questioned their
traditional authorship. In the end, the author of major religious works has
historically blurred into a tradition, not a named person. Such has been the
fate of the sayings of Lao-tzu, Buddha, and probably Jesus in, for instance,
the Gospel of Thomas. Such anonymity has been the interesting fate of the
thrice-greatest Hermes.
THE HERMETIC MIX
Into the hermetic mix goes the rich influx of eastern religious elements, mys­tery
religions, and the neopythagorean and neoplatonic philosophies of late
hellenistic times. Much of the work is gnostic in character. The Corpus Her-meticum
coincides with classical Christian gnostic texts not in Yahweh and
Jesus, the central characters of the Bible; not in their transcendental tales or in
the myths or even in the diction. These schools meet in the common central-ity
of gnosis, which is knowledge of the soul. Through gnosis, revealed in the
self, one finds the divine. Through gnosis the spirit or soul ascends united to
the divine. The Alexandrian platonists—Philo, a Jew, and Plotinos, an Egypt­ian
pagan, both writing in Greek—contributed hugely to the gnostic pot, even
when, in the instance of Plotinos, he wrote against the gnostics. The similari­ties
of Plotinian mystical union with the soul's sun and the gnostic knowledge
of the divine spark inside, ascending to the sky of inner light, easily belie the
Egyptian philosopher's refutation of the gnostics. Even the metaphors "soul
sun" and "divine spark inside" are almost identical in rhetorical phrase and
philosophical meaning.
The jewel of the hermetic tradition is Poimandres. Poimandres means
"shepherd of man" in Greek, or possibly "knowledge of the sun god Ra" in
Coptic. Although the author (or authors) of Poimandres, probably composed
and compiled at the end of the second century CE, is aware of Judaism and

508. HERMETIC LITERATURE 499
Christianity, this syncretic work remains basically pagan, deriving from
Egyptian platonism and contemporary Alexandrian theologies.
THE LEGACY OF HERMES TRISMEGISTOS
By ancient tradition, confirmed by Lactantius in the fourth century, these ec­static
tracts derive from the occult books of an ancient Egyptian sage who
lived shortly after Moses. The word hermetic also carries an exotic lexical life
of its own. Since Hermes is commonly seen as the Greek incarnation of Thoth
and is identified with his attributes, those mysterious, hermetic writings of the
Corpus Hermeticum became seen as the work of a secret Egyptian seer, a no­tion
persisting from before Augustine, who took this to be a fact, and down to
Giordano Bruno in the Renaissance.
The mystery surrounding this Egyptian seer or thrice-greatest Hermes
contributed to his long afterlife in religion and literature and in scientific tracts
on astrology, medicine, and alchemy, in Greek, Latin, Arabic, Italian, French,
and English from antiquity to our own times. Hermes, after leaving the dark­ness
of the physical universe where he has been trapped in nature, ascends
through seven levels of spirituality to the realm of light and to immersion in
the androgynous parent of all, a divine hermaphrodite (Hermes merged with
Aphrodite). There he becomes god. Hermes' figure of Poimandres, through
gnosis, presages the paths of later mystics, who partake in similar techniques
and experiences but who are not seen as gnostics. Like Philo's ladders of spiri­tual
ascent, these non-gnostic paths include Pseudo-Dionysios's diving gloom
and ray of blackness, and John of the Cross's paradoxical ways of oblivion in
which, like the gnostics, he dies from ordinary time, moves from sensations of
the body into the soul, to vision in darkness, which is illumination, and to
union, which is an ineffable ecstasy and another oblivion. The hermetic writ­ings
have suited a fusion of writers looking elsewhere (the literal sense of ec­stasy,
from ex-histanai, "stand out of place"), including William Blake and his
mentor Thomas Taylor, who first introduced Blake to the neoplatonists and to
the hermetic texts. In H.D.'s epic Trilogy, written in London during World War
II, the second book, Tribute to the Angels, begins with an invocation to Thoth /
Hermes / Mercury, the "angel" about whom the remainder of the book revolves:
Hermes Trismegistus
is patron of alchemists;

509. 500 HERMETIC LITERATURE
his province is thought,
inventive, artful and curious;
his metal is quicksilver,
his clients, orators, thieves and poets.1
In other gnostic works the soul (psyche) is of a lower order than spirit
(pneuma), and soul is associated with earthbound entities, particularly with
the biblical creator god. But in Poimandres, soul rather than spirit designates
the highest divine quality of anthropos, or earthly man: both nous and psyche
refer to this higher meaning. As in other gnostic texts, primal or first man (or
human) descends through the cosmos to the earth, where he mingles with
darkness and matter; that is, he becomes trapped in nature. To be free of that
darkness, he must abhor the senses, the body, all matter. After death, the
soul's ascent back through the sphere is a privilege of the select. After first
man's cosmic fall, a human being returns to become one with god. Hans
Jonas points out that the myth of cosmic return after death was transformed
in neoplatonic and Judeo-Christian mysticism into a technique of spiritual
ascent while alive and in the body. We see this phenomenon, of course, in
Plotinos, the last original neoplatonist, and in the practices of shamans and
mystics, east and west, whose principal aim is ecstatic transcendence. Jonas
summarizes brilliantly:
In a later stage of "gnostic" development (though no longer
passing under the name of Gnosticism) the external topology
of the ascent through the spheres, with the successive divesting
of the soul of its worldly envelopments and the regaining of its
original acosmic nature, could be "internalized" and find its ana­logue
in a psychological technique of inner transformations by
which the self, while still in the body, might attain the Absolute as
an immanent, if temporary, condition. An ascending scale of
mental states replaces the stations of the mythical itinerary: the
dynamics of progressive spiritual self-transformations, the spa­tial
thrust through the heavenly spheres. Thus could transcen­dence
itself be turned into immanence, the whole process
become spiritualized and put within the power and the orbit of
i. H.D., Trilogy, vol. 2, Tribute to the Angels, 63.

510. HERMETIC LITERATURE 501
the subject. With this transposition of a mythological scheme
into the inwardness of the person, with the translation of its ob­jective
stages into subjective phases of self-performable experi­ence
whose culmination has the form of ecstasis, gnostic myth
has passed into mysticism (Neoplatonic and monastic), and in
this new medium it lives on long after the disappearance of the
original mythological beliefs.2
The writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistos, and of Plotinos and
Pseudo-Dionysios, have been a prime source for the occult as well as for or­thodox
religious mysticism in the Western world. Plotinos was a historical
Greek from Egypt; Dionysius a Christian, probably a fifth-century Syrian monk;
while Hermes Trismegistos has the aura of a mysterious visionary, a lunatic
in the eyes of skeptics, a demigod to the faithful. All these human and divine
attributes are intriguing and peculiar, since, in all probability, he was nobody
at all; that is, he was a resonant name to replace a major hellenistic religious
tradition.
The lessons in that tradition are universal. We are lone figures alienated on
the earth from others, from sectarian and secular groups, even from our souls.
Through gnosis, however, one's solitude becomes the springboard to a greater
companionship, for a vision of and union with a spirit, which, depending on
system and translation of terms, is god, or the one, or nothing or all.
2. Jonas, The Gnostic Religion, 165-66.

511. 32
Poimandres
m • f all hermetic texts surviving from Alexandria, Poimandres is
^ m the prime source of gnostic speculation. The speaker in the
^fctetaaa*^ Socratic dialogue, Poimandres, proposes a severely dualistic
view of life in which the body represents everything dark, deceptive, temporal,
and mortal while the mind {nous) represents light, truth, timelessness, and
eternal salvation. The purpose of life is to free the soul from the prison of the
body through gnosis and to return to the heavenly realm of light. So one leaves
the physical universe by embarking on a celestial journey, through seven lev­els
of spirituality, until one comes to the father of all. Then "he enters the
eighth sphere of the fixed star" and becomes god. It is notable that for the her-meticists,
god, despite the title "father of all," is androgynous and contains
both sexes. In the Revelation of Asklepios,1 a hermetic text not included in this
volume, god is defined as bisexual.
Poimandres has three sections. The first section, which tells of the creation
of the world and human life, is a hermetic cosmogony and anthropogony,
revealed to the speaker as a visionary experience. Part two recounts the soul's
escape from the world and its ascent to heaven and mystical union with god;
the final part contains instructions for proselytizing the gospel of gnosis. The
work ends with a prayer.
i. The Revelation of Asklepios is a Hermetic dialogue between Hermes and Asklepios. It exists
in Latin translation from a lost Greek original, dated in the second century, entitled Perfect
Teaching (Logos teleios). In it Hermes Trismegistos speaks of piety as knowledge and impiety as
ignorance and equates sexual with mystical knowledge. A portion of the text is also present in
Coptic translation in Codex VI of the Nag Hammadi library.

512. HERMETIC LITERATURE 503
Poimandres serves as a rather severe mentor to the speaker in the dialogue,
explaining, reproaching, ordering redemption. We soon understand that
Poimandres is the nous, the highest godhead. The creations or divine emana­tions
of the father of all are the logos, the mind-demiurge (who in turn creates
the planetary system and the physical world in which people are trapped), and
anthropos (human being). The human appears in god's image, since it is an
androgynous generative principle and contains a divine soul, a spark of light.
In Poimandres we have perhaps the earliest full and detailed instructions in
the mystical experience of darkness and purification from matter, ascent to the
light, and entry into a oneness with god; this map of spiritual ecstasy was to be
imitated, or reproduced in other forms, in innumerable works thereafter.
POIMANDRES2
POIMANDRES APPEARS
Once when I began to think about the things that are, and my thoughts soared
exceedingly high, and my bodily senses were held down by sleep like people
weighed down by overeating and weariness, I thought I saw a being of vast and
boundless magnitude coming toward me, who called me by name, and said,
"What do you wish to hear and see, to learn and know?"
"Who are you?" I said.
"I am Poimandres," he said, "the mind3 of absolute power. I know what you
want and I am with you everywhere."
"I want to learn about the things that are, their nature, and to know god,"
I replied. "How I want to hear!"
He said, "Keep in mind what you wish to learn and I will teach you."
THE VISION OF CREATION
With these words he changed his form, and in a flash everything opened be­fore
me and I saw an unbounded vista. All was light, a soothing and happy
light. And as I gazed I was entranced. But soon a stark and terrifying darkness
descended gradually like a coiled snake, and I saw the darkness turn into a
2. Poimandres: translated from the Greek by Willis Barnstone.
3. Nous.

513. 504 HERMETIC LITERATURE
watery substance,4 unspeakably agitated, giving off smoke as from fire, emit­ting
an indescribable sound of lamentation. And after that an inarticulate cry
like the voice of fire.
Out of the light a holy word5 descended upon the watery substance, and I
thought this word the voice of light; and unmingled fire leapt out of the wa­tery
substance and soared upward. The fire was quick and violent, and the air,
being light, followed the breath6 as it rose from earth and water to the fire, so
that the breath seemed suspended from the fire. But the earth and water re­mained
intermingled, and the earth could not be seen apart from the water.
All these elements were kept in audible motion by the breath of the word hov­ering
above them.
POIMANDRES IS LIGHT AND MIND
Then Poimandres asked me, "Do you understand what that vision means?"
"I will understand," I said.
"I am that light," he said, "and I am the mind, the first god, who existed be­fore
the watery substance appeared out of the darkness. And the luminous
word that issued from the mind is the son of god."
"In what way?"
"Understand that what sees and hears inside you is the word of the lord, its
son, but the mind is god the father. And they are not divided one from the
other, for they are united by life."
"Thank you," I said.
"But think about the light, and understand it."
WHERE EVERYTHING COMES FROM
Having said this, he gazed intently at me for a long time, and I trembled at his
aspect. When I raised my head I saw in my mind the light, consisting of innu­merable
powers, which had become a limitless cosmos, and the fire, contained
by a mighty power, was held in place. This is what I saw and understood from
the words of Poimandres.
4. Or "nature" (Greek, physis).
5. Logos.
6. Greek pneuma, "spirit" or "breath."

514. HERMETIC LITERATURE 505
I was amazed, and he spoke to me again. "You have seen in your mind the
archetypal form, infinite and prior to the beginning."
"But where do the elements of nature come from?" I asked.
"From god's will, which received the word, and saw and imitated the beau­tiful
world. The watery substance of nature received the word and made itself
into an orderly world from its diverse elements, and a brood of living crea­tures
came forth.
ANOTHER MIND, THE DEMIURGE
"And the first mind, being both male and female, both life and light, conceived
through the word another mind, the demiurge, and this second mind of fire
and breath fashioned seven rulers, who encompass within their orbits the
world perceived by the senses. Their government is called destiny.7
"Suddenly, the word of god leaped out of the downward-moving ele­ments
of nature to the pure body of heaven and was united with the mind of
the demiurge. For the word was of one substance with the mind. And the
lower elements of nature were left wordless,8 that is, without reason, and be­came
mere matter.
"Now the demiurge-mind worked together with the word to encompass
the spheres of the rulers and to whirl them with thunderous speed, with no
fixed beginning or determined end, since their revolutions begin where they
end. And according to the mind's will, the lower elements of nature became
animals devoid of reason, for they did not have the word. And the air brought
forth winged creatures, and the water brought forth fish, and by then earth
and water were separated from each other according to the will of the mind.
And earth brought forth four-footed creatures and creeping things and wild
and tame beasts.
MIND, FATHER OF ALL, GIVES BIRTH
TO A PRIMAL HUMAN
"But mind, the father of all, who is life and light, gave birth to a human being
like himself. And he loved him as his own child, for he was very beautiful,
7. Greek, heimarmene.
8. Greek, alogos.
9. Greek, anthropos.

515. 506 HERMETIC LITERATURE
bearing the likeness of his father. And god was very pleased with his own
beauty in the primal person9 and delivered to him all that he had created.
"And the primal person took station in the highest sphere of heaven and
observed the things made by its author, his brother the demiurge, who ruled
over the region of fire. Now that the human had seen those things made
in fire, he wished to create things of his own. And his father permitted him to
do so. And since the rulers loved him too, each gave him a share of his own
nature.
"When the human learned their characteristics, he wished to break
through the bounding orbits of the rulers and to share the power of him who
rules over the fire.
THE HUMAN DESCENDS INTO
THE WORLD OF NATURE
"Then the primal person, who possessed all authority over the world of mor­tal
creatures and irrational animals, leaned down through the harmony10
and, having broken the vault, showed lower nature the beautiful form of god.
When nature saw the beautiful form of god, it smiled on the human with
love, for it had seen the wondrous beauty of the human reflected in the water
and its shadow on the earth. And the human too, on seeing this form, a form
similar to his own reflected in the water, loved it and wanted to live in it. And
his wish was immediately realized, and he began to inhabit a form devoid of
reason. And nature received its loved one, embraced him, and they mingled,
for they were lovers.
HUMANKIND IS MORTAL AND IMMORTAL
"And this is why the human, of all creatures on the earth, is twofold: mortal
in his body but immortal through the eternal human. Though he is immor­tal
and has power over all things, he also suffers mortality, since he is subject
to destiny. Though above the world of the spheres, he is a slave of destiny.
Though he is male and female,11 being born of a father who contains male
and female, and is sleepless as his father is sleepless, he is vanquished by love
and oblivion."
10. This is the world of the spheres.
11. That is, androgynous.

516. HERMETIC LITERATURE 507
SEVEN EARTHLY HUMANS ARE BORN
And after this I said, "O mind, tell me the rest. I too love your teaching."
And Poimandres answered, "Here is the mystery that has been hidden until
this day. Nature, intimately mingled with the primal person, produced a most
wondrous miracle. The human had in himself the world of spheres of the
seven rulers, which, as I told you, was made of fire and air. Nature immediately
made seven humans corresponding to the natures of the seven rulers, and they
were androgynous and sublime."
Then I said, "O Poimandres, a powerful desire has seized me and I want to
hear more. Do not stop."
"Silence," Poimandres replied. "I have not yet finished with the first
discourse."
"See, I am silent," I said.
"These seven humans were born as follows: nature brought forth their
bodies. Earth was the female element, water the generative male element; from
fire came their nature, from ether their spirit.12 Nature brought forth their
bodies in human likeness. And humankind, which was formed of life and
light, became soul13 and mind:14 soul from life and mind from light. And all
creatures in the world of senses remained that way until the end of an era.
MALE AND FEMALE ARE CREATED
"Now I will tell you what you long to hear. When that era was completed, the
bond uniting all things was loosened by god's will. All living creatures, being
androgynous, were suddenly divided into two, and the primal person became
at once male and female. God immediately spoke a holy word: 'Increase and
multiply, all you creatures and creations. And let humankind, being with a
mind, recognize itself as immortal and know that the cause of death is eros.'15
"And when god said this, his providence,16 by means of destiny and the
world of spheres, brought male and female into union and established gen­erations.
And all creatures multiplied according to their kind. And whoever
12. Greek, pneuma.
13. Greek, psyche.
14. Greek, nous.
15. Genesis 1:22.
16. Greek, pronoia, elsewhere translated as "forethought."

517. 508 HERMETIC LITERATURE
recognized himself attained that good that is supreme, while whoever was
led astray by desire, by love for the body, will wander in the darkness of the
world of senses and suffer death."
LIFE AND DEATH
"But what kind of sin do the ignorant commit that they should be deprived of
immortality?" I asked.
"You do not seem to have thought about what I told you. Did I not tell you
to pay attention?"
"I understand and remember, and at the same time I thank you."
"If you understand, tell me why those who are ignorant deserve death."
"Because the material body has its source in the abhorrent darkness, from
which came the watery substance of which the body is composed in the sensi­ble
world, and from this body death slakes its thirst."
"You have understood correctly. But why is it, as the word of god has it, that
whoever recognizes and knows himself enters into the good?"17
I answered, "Because the father of all consists of light and life, and from
him human beings were born."
"You are right. Light and life are god and father, out of which humans
came. And if you learn that you are also made of light and life, you will return
to light and life." These things Poimandres said.
THE PLACE OF THE MIND AMONG
THE GODLY AND GODLESS
"But tell me," I said, "how I shall come into life, for god told me, 'Let the think­ing
person know himself.' Don't all people have a mind?"
"Do not speak that way, for I, mind, am present to the holy and good and
pure and merciful, and my presence is a help to them, and all at once they rec­ognize
everything and win the mercy of loving god, and thank him and praise
him and sing hymns to him, and turn to him with devotion. And before they
abandon the body to death, they loathe the bodily senses, since they know how
they work. I, the mind, will not allow the workings of the body to attain their
purpose. As a guardian of the gates, I bar the way to evil and shameful ener­gies.
I cut off their strategies.
17. This recalls the Delphic maxim "Know yourself," used here and in other gnostic texts.

518. HERMETIC LITERATURE 509
"And I am far removed from those who are foolish and evil and sly and en­vious
and covetous and murderous and godless. I yield place to the avenging
demon18 who visits such a person with the sharpness of fire, piercing his
senses and driving him to further lawlessness so that he may incur greater
punishment. Never ceasing his dark struggle, and giving in to boundless ap­petite,
he inflicts upon himself greater torment and hotter fire."
THE ASCENT OF THE SOUL
THROUGH SEVEN ZONES
"Mind, you have instructed me well in all things. But tell me more about the
ascent. How shall I come to life?"
At this Poimandres said, "First, with the dissolution of your material body,
you yield your character to the demon. Your image vanishes. The bodily senses
return to their own sources, becoming part of the cosmos, and, combined in
new ways, do other work. And anger and desire enter thoughtless nature.
"And then man rises into the harmony, the world of the spheres. In the
first zone he leaves behind the force to grow and decrease, in the second the
machinations of evil, in the third the guile of lust, in the fourth his domi­neering
arrogance, in the fifth his unholy daring and rashness, in the sixth
his striving for wealth by evil means, and in the seventh zone the malicious
lie: all rendered powerless.
ENTERING THE EIGHTH
AND BECOMING DIVINE
"Then, stripped naked by the force of the harmony, he enters the eighth sphere
of the fixed stars,19 and possessing his own energy he remains there with others,
singing hymns to the father. And the others are happy at his coming. Resembling
those who live there, he hears the powers who have their place in the substance of
the eighth sphere and who sing to god with a special voice. They move in order
up to the father. They surrender to the powers, and become the powers, and are
in god. This is the good, the aim of those who have gnosis: to become god.
"Why then do you hesitate? Now that you have received everything from
me, why not make yourself a guide to the worthy so that people may be saved
18. Greek, daimon.
19. The ogdoad. See also the hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth.

519. 510 HERMETIC LITERATURE
by god through you?" And, having said these things, Poimandres before my
eyes mingled with the powers.
GOING FORTH TO PREACH
I thanked and blessed the father of all, and was sent forth, empowered and in­structed
concerning the nature of all and with a supreme vision. And I began
to preach to the people of beauty, of piety and gnosis: "O people born of the
earth, given over to drunkenness and sleep and ignorance of god, end your
drunkenness and unreasoning sleep."
When they heard this, they gathered around me. I said, "Why have you ac­cepted
death when you have been given the power to enjoy immortality?
Change your ways, you who walk with error and keep company with igno­rance.
Free yourself of darkness and seize the light. Abandon corruption and
receive immortality."
And some of them mocked me and left me, for they had given themselves
to death. But others begged me to teach them, and they threw themselves at
my feet. I raised them up and became a guide to people, teaching them the
word and how they might be saved. And I sowed words of wisdom in them,
and they were nourished with ambrosial water. When evening came and the
rays of sun began to fade, I called on them to thank god. And when they com­pleted
the thanksgiving, each sought his or her own bed.20
I recorded the beneficence of Poimandres, and how my hopes had been
fulfilled. For the body's sleep became the soul's awakening, the closing of my
eyes the true vision, my silence pregnant with the good, and my words the ex­pression
of good things. And all this happened to me, since I had received it
from my mind, that is, from Poimandres, the word and mind of absolute sov­ereignty.
I became god-inspired, god-minded, and came with the truth.
PRAISE TO GOD THE FATHER
So with all my soul and strength I praise god the father:
Holy is god the father of all, who precedes all beginnings.
Holy is god, whose will is accomplished by his own powers.
20. Such giving of thanks is also to be found in the Prayer of Thanksgiving, below.

520. HERMETIC LITERATURE 511
Holy is god, who wishes to be known and is known to those
who are his own.
You are holy, who by your word made all things that are.
You are holy, who have become the image of all nature.
You are holy, who are not formed by nature.
You are holy, who are stronger than all domination.
You are holy, who are greater than all eminence.
You are holy, who are superior to all praise.
Accept the pure offering of words from a soul and heart that rise to you,
unnamable, ineffable, whom only silence calls!
I beg you, let me not be removed from gnosis, which is our nature. Fill me
with strength, and with your grace let me bring light to those of my race who
are in ignorance, to my brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. Therefore I
believe and bear witness. I go to life and to light.
Father, bless you. Your child wishes to share the holy salvation you confer
through your total authority.

521. 33
The Discourse
on the Eighth
and Ninth
r I ~
I he hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth is a dialogue be-
I tween a teacher, Hermes Trismegistos, and an unnamed student
JL. about the ascent to the higher stages of spiritual enlightenment,
the eighth and the ninth. Such an ascent is also described in the preceding text,
Poimandres. The present text assumes the astronomical system of late antiq­uity
that describes the heavens as consisting of seven spheres surrounding the
earth and housing the sun, moon, and planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn). Beyond these spheres lies the divine. The eighth realm, astronomers
thought, is the realm of the fixed stars, and the ninth realm is exalted beyond
that. These realms are also depicted in the Secret Book of John, with the seven
cosmic kings stationed in seven spheres of heaven, through the power of Yald­abaoth,
and Sophia stationed in the ninth realm, above Yaldabaoth. According
to the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, the student of knowledge has al­ready
advanced through the lower stages of spiritual enlightenment. The stu­dent
prays, perhaps with the teacher, "Lord, grant us wisdom from your power
that reaches us, that we may relate to ourselves the vision of the eighth and the
ninth. Already we have advanced to the seventh, since we are pious and abide

522. HERMETIC LITERATURE 513
in your law." Further, the student mentions books that have been studied for
their wisdom and understanding.
The student's visionary ascent to the eighth and the ninth entails singing a
hymn in silence and being united with the mind of all. The souls and the an­gels
who inhabit the eighth likewise sing a hymn in silence, for they also offer
praise to the mind of all, which dwells in the ninth. This mind is recognized
through the mystical guidance of Hermes Trismegistos, who himself an­nounces,
"I am mind, and I see another mind, one that moves the soul." And
the student declares, "I am the instrument of your spirit, mind is your plec­trum,
and your guidance makes music with us. I see myself! I have been
strengthened by you, for your love has reached us." The result of this enlight­enment
is wisdom, praise, ecstasy. In a way that recalls the Three Steles of Seth,
the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth includes instructions for preserving
the text on turquoise steles.
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth survives in Coptic in the Nag
Hammadi library. Its title is supplied from the contents of the text. It was
probably composed in Greek, very likely in Egypt, considering the references
to turquoise steles with hieroglyphic characters to be placed at the temple at
Diospolis (Magna or Parva) in Upper Egypt, and deities with faces of animals.
Some scholars suggest a date of composition in the second century CE, on ac­count
of similarities with the middle platonic philosopher Albinus.
THE DISCOURSE
ON THE EIGHTH
AND NINTH1
"My father, yesterday you promised me you would take2 my mind to the
eighth heavenly sphere and after that you would take me to the ninth. You said
this is the sequence of the tradition."
1. The Discourse on the Eighth and the Ninth: Nag Hammadi Library, Codex VI,6 (pp. 52,1 to
63,32); translated by Marvin Meyer.
2. Partially restored.

523. 514 HERMETIC LITERATURE
"Yes, my child,3 this is the sequence, but the promise was made about
human nature. I said to you when I first made the promise, 'If you remember
each of the stages.' After I received the spirit through the power, I established
the action for you. Clearly understanding dwells within you. In me it is as if
the power were pregnant, for when I conceived from the spring that flows to
me, I gave birth."
"Father, you have spoken every word rightly to me, but I am amazed at
what you say. You said, 'The power in me.'"
He said, "I gave birth to it as children are born."
"Then, father, I have many siblings if I am to be counted among the
generations."
"Right, child. This good thing is counted . . . always. So, child, you must
know your siblings and honor them rightly, since they have come from the
very same father. For each of the generations have I addressed. I have named
them, since they are offspring like these children."
"Then, father, do they have a day?"4
"Child, they are spiritual, for they exist as forces that nurture other souls.
That is why I say they are immortal."
"Your word is true. From now on it cannot be refuted. Father, begin the
discourse on the eighth and the ninth, and count me also with my siblings."
"Let us pray, child, to the father of the universe, with your siblings, who are
my children, that the father may grant the spirit of eloquence."
"How do they pray, father, when they are united with the generations? Fa­ther,
I want to obey."
". . . It is right for you to remember the progress you have experienced
as wisdom in the books.5 Child, recall your early childhood. You have posed,
as children do, senseless and foolish questions."
"Father, I have experienced progress and foreknowledge from the books,
and they are greater than what is lacking—these matters are my first concern."
"Child, when you understand the truth of your statement, you will find
your siblings, who are my children, praying with you."
"Father, I understand nothing else than the beauty I have experienced in
the books."
3. Literally, "my son" (Copticpashere), throughout the text.
4. This may refer to a birthday; some scholars understand the Coptic words (hoou emmau) to
refer to mothers, hence the alternate translation "do they have mothers also?"
5. This describes the instruction with books in the lower stages of spiritual enlightenment.

524. HERMETIC LITERATURE 515
"This is what you call the beauty of the soul—the edification you have ex­perienced
in stages. May the understanding come to you, and you will teach."
"I have understood, father, each of the books, and especially...."
"Child,... in praises from those who raise them."
"Father, I shall receive from you the power of the discourse you will utter.
As it was spoken to the two of us, let us pray, father."
"Child, it is fitting for us to pray to god with all our mind and all our heart
and our soul, and to ask god that the gift of the eighth reach us, and that each
receive from god what belongs to god. Your job is to understand, mine is to be
able to utter the discourse from the spring that flows to me."
PRAYER FOR THE ASCENT TO THE
EIGHTH AND THE NINTH
"Let us pray, father:
I call upon you,
who rules over the kingdom of power,
whose word is an offspring of light,
whose words are immortal,
eternal, immutable,
whose will produces life for the semblances everywhere,
whose nature gives form to substance,
by whom the souls of the eighth and the angels are moved...,
whose word reaches all who exist,
whose forethought reaches everyone here,
who produces everyone,
who has divided the eternal realm among spirits,6
who has created everything,
who, being self within self, supports everything,
being perfect,
the invisible god one speaks to, in silence,
whose image is moved when it is ordered,
and it is ordered,
mighty one in power,
6. Partially restored.

525. 516 HERMETIC LITERATURE
who is exalted above majesty,
who is superior to the honored ones,
ZOXATHAZO
A
OOEE
OOO EEE
OOOO EE
OOOOOO OOOOO
OOOOOO UUUUUU
ooooooooooooooo
ZOZAZOTH7
Lord, grant us wisdom from your power that reaches us,
that we may relate to ourselves the vision of the eighth and the ninth.
Already we have advanced to the seventh,
since we are faithful
and abide in your law.
Your will we fulfill always,
we have walked in your way
and have renounced . ..
so your vision may come.
Lord, grant us truth in the image.
Grant that through spirit we may see
the form of the image that lacks nothing
and accept the reflection of the fullness
from us through our praise.
And recognize the spirit within us.
From you the universe received soul.
From you, one unconceived,
one that has been conceived came into being.
The birth of the self-conceived is through you,
the birth of all conceived things that exist.
Accept these spiritual offerings from us,
which we direct to you
with all our heart and soul and strength.
Save what is within us,
and grant us immortal wisdom."
7. This is glossolalia, speaking in tongues, speaking in ecstasy.

526. HERMETIC LITERATURE 517
VISION OF THE EIGHTH AND THE NINTH
"Child, let us embrace with love.8 Be happy. Already the power, light, is coming
to us from them. I see, I see ineffable depths. How shall I tell you, child?.. .9
How shall I tell you about the universe? I am mind,10 and I see another mind,
one that moves the soul. I see the one that moves me from pure forgetfulness.
You have given me power. I see myself. I want to speak. Fear seizes me. I have
found the beginning of the power above all powers, without beginning. I see a
spring bubbling with life. I have said, child, that I am mind. I have seen. Speech
cannot reveal this. For all of the eighth, child, and the souls in it, and the an­gels,
11 sing a song in silence.121, mind, understand."
"How does one sing a song through silence?"
"Can no one speak to you?"
"I am silent, father. I want to sing a song to you while I am silent."
"Sing it. I am mind."
"I understand mind, Hermes. You cannot be known, since you stay in
yourself. I am happy, father. I see you laughing. The universe is happy. No
creature will lack your life, for you are the lord of the inhabitants everywhere.
Your forethought keeps watch. I call you father, eternal realm of eternal realms,
great divine spirit, who through spirit sends moisture on everyone.13 What do
you tell me, father Hermes?"
"Child, I say nothing about this. It is right before god for us to be silent
about what is hidden."
"Trismegistos, don't let my soul be deprived of the great, divine vision.
Everything is possible for you as master of the universe."
"Praise again, child, and sing while you are silent. Ask what you want in
silence."
When he finished praising, he called out, "Father Trismegistos, what shall
I say? We have received this light, and I myself see this same vision in you. I
8. Or "in truth" (Coptic hen oume).
9. Jean Pierre Mahe, Hermes en Haute-Egypte, restores this; possibly read "We have begun to
behold these places, at once."
10. Partially restored; see, below, the same statement: "I am mind."
11. The souls and the angels are thought to dwell in the eighth.
12. Silence commonly expresses divine transcendence in gnostic and mystical texts. See, for ex­ample,
the Secret Book of John: "Its eternal realm is imperishable, at peace, dwelling in silence,
at rest, before everything."
13. Or "sends rain on everyone." The text also refers to "a spring bubbling with life," and other
gnostic texts likewise mention water, including living water.

527. 5l8 HERMETIC LITERATURE
see the eighth, and the souls in it, and the angels singing a song to the ninth14
and its powers. I see the one with the power of them all, creating those in the
spirit."
"From now on it is good for us to remain silent, with head bowed.15 From
now on do not speak about the vision. It is fitting to sing a song to the father
till the day of leaving the body."
"What you sing, father, I also want to sing."
"I am singing a song in myself. While you rest, praise. You have found what
you seek."
"But is it right, father, for me to praise when my heart is filled?"
"What is right is for you to sing praise to god so it may be written in this
imperishable book."
"I shall offer up the praise in my heart as I invoke the end of the universe
and the beginning of the beginning, the god of the human quest, the immor­tal
discovery, the producer of light and truth, the sower of reason, the love of
immortal life. No hidden word can speak of you, lord. My mind wants to sing
a song to you every day. I am the instrument of your spirit, mind is your plec­trum,
and your guidance makes music with us. I see myself. I have been
strengthened by you, for your love has reached us."
"Yes, my child."
"O grace! After this, I thank you with my song. You gave me life when you
made me wise. I praise you. I invoke your name hidden in me,
A
O EE
O EEE
OOO III
OOOO OOOOO
OOOOO UUUUUU
ooooooooooo
ooooooooooo.16
You exist with spirit. I sing to you in a devout manner."
14. Mind dwells in the ninth.
15. Literally, "leaning forward." The translators for Nag Hammadi Codices V, 2-5 and VI, p. 363,
suggest "in a reverent posture," while Jean Pierre Mahe and Karl-Wolfgang Troger translate
"hastily."
16. More glossolalia.

528. HERMETIC LITERATURE 519
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE
PRESERVATION OF THE TEXT
"Child, copy this book for the temple at Diospolis17 in hieroglyphic charac­ters,
and call it the Eighth Reveals the Ninth."
"I shall do it, father,18 as you command."
"Child,19 copy the contents of the book on turquoise steles.20 Child, it is fit­ting
to copy this book on turquoise steles in hieroglyphic characters, for mind
itself has become the supervisor of these things. So I command that this dis­course
be carved into stone and that you put it in my sanctuary.21 Eight guards
watch over it with . . . the sun: the males on the right have faces of frogs, and
the females on the left have faces of cats.22 Put a square milkstone at the base
of the turquoise tablets, and copy the name on the azure stone tablet in hiero­glyphic
characters. Child, you must do this when I23 am in Virgo, and the sun
is in the first half of the day, and fifteen degrees have passed by me."
"Father, all you say I shall gladly do."
"Write an oath in the book, so that those who read the book may not use
the wording for malicious purposes or to subvert fate. Rather, they should
submit to the law of god and not transgress whatsoever, but in purity ask god
for wisdom and knowledge. And whoever will not be conceived in the begin­ning
by god develops through the general and instructional discourses. Such a
person will not be able to read what is written in this book, even though the
person's conscience is pure within and the person does nothing shameful and
does not go along with it. Rather, such a person progresses by stages and ad­vances
in the way of immortality, and so advances in the understanding of the
eighth that reveals the ninth."
"I shall do it, father."
"This is the oath: I adjure you who will read this holy book, by heaven and
earth and fire and water and seven rulers of substance and the creative spirit
in them and the god not conceived and the self-conceived one and the one
17. Diospolis Magna is Thebes (Luxor), Diospolis Parva is Heou (near Nag Hammadi).
18. This is emended; the Coptic text reads "son."
19. This is emended; the Coptic text reads "Father."
20. The Three Steles of Seth also assumes such monuments.
21. The meaning is uncertain (Coptic ouope).
22. Egyptian deities often are depicted with faces of animals.
23. That is, Hermes, the planet Mercury.

529. 520 HERMETIC LITERATURE
who has been conceived, that you guard what Hermes has communicated.
God will be at one with those who keep the oath and everyone we have named,
but wrath will come upon each of those who violate the oath. This is the per­fect
one who is, child."

530. 34
The Prayer of
Thanksgiving
r i i
I he hermetic Prayer of Thanksgiving is preserved in three ver-
• sions: the Coptic version from the Nag Hammadi library, a
JL. Greek version from Papyrus Mimaut, and a Latin version from
the Latin tractate Asclepius. It was probably originally composed in Greek.
The Coptic version appears immediately after the Discourse on the Eighth
and Ninth in Nag Hammadi Codex VI, in a fine state of preservation. The in­troduction
to the Prayer of Thanksgiving implies that it was spoken by the
teacher and the student of the preceding discourse. In the prayer the wor­shipers
give thanks for having been made divine through knowledge and for
having received the enlightenment that comes from hermetic knowledge and
understanding: "If the instruction is sweet and simple, it grants us mind,
word, and knowledge: mind, that we may understand you; word, that we
may interpret you; knowledge, that we may know you." The prayer closes with
a petition that the knowledge and the life of knowledge continue on and on.
After the prayer, the text reports that those who prayed together embraced
(with a kiss?) and shared a vegetarian meal.

531. 5 2 2 HERMETIC LITERATURE
THE PRAYER OF
THANKSGIVING1
This is the prayer they2 offered:
We thank you,
every soul and heart reaches out to you,
O name free of trouble,
honored with the designation god,
praised with the designation father.
To all and all things come fatherly kindness and affection and love.
And if the instruction is sweet and simple,3
it grants us mind, word, and knowledge:
mind, that we may understand you,
word, that we may interpret you,
knowledge, that we may know you.
We are happy,
enlightened by your knowledge.
We are happy.
You have taught us about yourself.
We are happy.
While we were still in the body
you have made us divine through your knowledge.
The thanksgiving of those approaching you is only this:
that we know you.
We have known you,
light of mind.
Life of life,
we have known you.
i. The Prayer of Thanksgiving: Nag Hammadi Codex VI,7 (pp. 63,33 to 65,7); translated from
the Coptic by Marvin Meyer.
2. In the present context, those offering the prayer must be the teacher and the student of the
Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth.
3. Here the Greek reads: "To all and all things you have shown fatherly kindness, affection, love,
and even sweeter action" (the verb "come" in the English translation given here is only implied
in the Coptic text).

532. HERMETIC LITERATURE 523
Womb of every creature,
we have known you.
Womb pregnant with the nature of the father,
we have known you.
Eternal constancy of the father who conceives,
so have we worshiped your goodness.
We ask one favor:
we wish to be sustained in knowledge.4
We desire one protection:
that we not stumble in this life.
When they prayed and said these things, they embraced5 and went to eat
their sacred bloodless6 food.
4. Or, reading with the Greek and Latin versions, "your knowledge."
5. Perhaps a ritual embrace or kiss.
6. Vegetarian food.

534. PART FOUR
Mandaean Literature

536. INTRODUCTION
NATHANIEL DEUTSCH
T
JLn the marshes of southern Iraq and Iran, in the cities of Baghdad and
Basra, and increasingly in locales like suburban New Jersey, live the Man­daeans,
the only surviving gnostic community from antiquity. These fasci­nating
and tenacious people have maintained their traditions for nearly two
thousand years, long after their better known gnostic "cousins" fell into ob­scurity.
Although they have always been a relatively small community, the
Mandaeans have produced an extremely rich body of rituals and texts writ­ten
in Mandaic, an eastern dialect of Aramaic. Many of these traditions are
unique, while others have parallels in gnosticism, Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam, as well as in ancient Mesopotamian religions. Because of their geo­graphical
isolation, their traditional wariness toward outsiders, and the lin­guistic
and interpretive challenges posed by their literature, the Mandaeans
have remained a mystery to all but a few scholars of religion. In recent years
the Mandaean community has begun to remove its veils of seclusion. At the
same time, a small but growing number of dedicated researchers has initiated
a renaissance of interest in Mandaean studies.
ORIGINS AND HISTORY
The origins of Mandaeism, like other branches of gnosticism, have long been
debated. Mandaean literature and oral traditions preserve a number of in­triguing
references to the roots of the community. These combine mytholog­ical,
biblical, and historical elements. Like all gnostics, the Mandaeans trace
their ultimate ancestry to the world of light (in Mandaic, alma dnhura, an
analogue to the pleroma). The Mandaean anthropogony echoes both rabbinic
and gnostic accounts. Ptahil, the demiurge, creates the earthly Adam, who re­mains
inanimate until the soul of his heavenly prototype, called Adakas (a

537. 528 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
contraction of Adam Kasya, "hidden Adam"), is brought into his inert body
from the world of light. In another version of the myth, Ptahil first creates
Adam and then, "according to the likeness of Adam," he creates Eve (in
Mandaic, Hawwa, whose heavenly counterpart is Anana dNhura or "cloud of
light"). Both figures are immobile until Ptahil obtains a spirit (mana) from his
father, Abathur, and places it into the couple. After this incarnation, the savior
figure Manda dHayye ("knowledge of life") comes to Adam and Eve, instruct­ing
them in the knowledge (manda, similar to gnosis) of their true home in
the world of light and the ritual means of returning there.
Mandaeans, whose very name means "knowers" or "gnostics," view Adam
and Eve as their ancestors in two ways. First, they serve as the archetypal Man­daeans
insofar as they are mired in ignorance until a messenger from the
world of light reveals their true, divine nature—a more straightforward ver­sion
of the gnostic allegory of the pearl in the mud. Second, the Mandaeans
consider themselves to be the physical descendents of Adam and Eve.
In addition to shedding light on the Mandaeans' self-conception, these an-thropogonic
traditions illumine other important aspects of the religion. First,
Mandaeans share with other gnostics a complex and ambivalent attitude to­ward
the Hebrew Bible. On the one hand, they reject the canonical character
of the Bible and substitute their own sacred texts. On the other hand, as in the
above example, they liberally incorporate biblical stories into their own
mythological narratives. In many cases, Mandaeans employ what scholars of
gnosticism have called inverse exegesis, namely, offering interpretations that
directly contradict the standard Jewish or Christian interpretations of the
same biblical texts.
Second, these anthropogonic myths reveal the Mandaean affinity for what
may be called "doubling": the view that heavenly beings and realities have
counterparts in the physical world. Hence both Adam and Eve are images of
heavenly prototypes. Related to this tendency is the Mandaean belief that
Adam's body is a microcosm of the universe. Finally, the Mandaean version of
the primal or cosmic Adam myth also hints at the great importance of rituals
in returning the exiled soul to the world of light. Like Adam and Eve, the Man­daeans'
own salvation depends not only on revelations from heavenly light
messengers such as Manda dHayye but also on their own correct performance
of rituals, most notably baptism (masbuta) in living waters (mia hiyya).
Another important set of Mandaean myths reflects the highly ambivalent
relationship of Mandaeism to Judaism. In oral traditions, the Mandaeans
imply that they were present in Egypt with the Israelites and at the biblical

538. MANDAEAN LITERATURE 529
Exodus. The Mandaeans identify with the Egyptians, however, instead of the
Israelites. Indeed, there is an annual ritual meal dedicated to the Egyptians
who perished in the Sea of Reeds while pursuing the Israelites. The Man­daeans
claim that Moses (whom they call Musa) quarreled with their ances­tors
in Egypt. Instead of serving the true god, Moses worshiped the evil deity
Adonai (that is, the biblical god, whom the Mandaeans also identify with
the sun).
Although these stories suggest a desire to differentiate the Mandaeans
from the biblical Israelites, they also reveal a kind of kinship, at least in terms
of historical consciousness. Equally provocative is a text that depicts Judaism
as a stage that must be "cast off" before becoming Mandaean. The same text,
known as the Scroll of Exalted Kingship, connects the Mandaic term for Jew­ish
people, or iahutaiia, with another word meaning "abortion" or "miscar­riage,"
a midrashic type of pun that implies that Judaism is an incompletely
developed religion in comparison with Mandaeism.
The most explicitly historical account of the group's origins, a document
called the Haran gawaita, also suggests a link to Judaism. According to the
Haran gawaita, a community of Mandaeans once lived in Jerusalem, where
they were persecuted by the Jewish people. In response to this pressure, the
text claims, the Mandaeans emigrated to the east, eventually settling in pres­ent
day Iran and Iraq. Elements of the text, including a reference to a certain
king Ardban (perhaps the Parthian ruler Artaban III, IV, or V), indicate a
first or second century CE date for the events described. Finally, another
story that takes place in Jerusalem tells of a Jewish girl named Miriai, who
converted to Mandaeism after receiving a revelation from the savior figure
Anosh. Miriai became the ancestor of 365 disciples, whose death at the hands
of the Jewish people incited Anosh to destroy the city of Jerusalem and slay
the Jewish community.
These and other complex stories allude to an intimate if highly ambivalent
relationship between Mandaeism and Judaism. This relationship is also at­tested
to by a host of similar (and in some cases identical) beliefs in angels, a
number of striking and important parallels between Mandaeism and Jewish
mysticism, and a shared history in Babylonia, where the two communities
spoke similar dialects of Aramaic and had extensive contact over the centuries.
A different theory of origins was offered by the Portuguese Christians
who came into contact with the Mandaeans in the sixteenth century. Al­though
they were not the first European Christians to encounter the Man­daeans
(an Italian Dominican monk reported a meeting in 1290), the

539. 530 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
Portuguese were the first to establish an extensive and lengthy relationship.
Based on the Mandaeans' baptismal practices and their veneration of John
the baptizer, the Portuguese decided that the Mandaeans were a long lost
Christian group. During the same period, the Portuguese came into contact
with Indian Christians in Goa who traced their origins to Saint Thomas. Ini­tially,
the Portuguese linked the Mandaeans to the missionary efforts of John
the evangelist in Mesopotamia. Later, however, they speculated that the Man­daeans
were founded by John the baptizer in the area of the Jordan River be­fore
migrating to the east. For centuries thereafter, the Mandaeans were known
in Europe as the "Christians of Saint John" {Christiani di San Giovanni).
Yet while the Mandaeans themselves venerated John the baptizer, they
never depict him as their founder. Moreover, Mandaean texts condemn Jesus
as a "false messiah" and a "liar" who perverted John the baptizer's teachings.
Their extremely negative attitude to Jesus contrasts sharply with his positive
image in many western gnostic texts and in Manichaeism, where Jesus is
viewed as one of the revealer figures. Mandaean literature also polemicizes
against Christian practices, most notably celibacy of the clergy, which Man­daeans
view as an abomination. Thus the identification of the Mandaeans as a
Christian sect must ultimately be rejected, even though the two religions share
a number of significant parallels; for example, they both treat Sunday (in
Mandaic, habshaba) as the sabbath.
Since the nineteenth century, Western scholars have taken up the question
of Mandaean origins. While some have placed the group's roots in the early
Islamic period, many more have speculated that the Mandaeans are pre-
Christian and may have even influenced canonical Christian texts such as the
Gospel of John. Other scholars have argued that the Mandaeans originated as
a sectarian Jewish or Jewish-Christian group in Palestine, emerging in the
fertile religious milieu that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as a host of
baptismal groups. Still others have argued that a non-Jewish western gnostic
group may have migrated to Mesopotamia, where its members adopted and
transformed indigenous religious traditions.
Earlier speculation that Mandaeism developed out of Manichaeism has
been definitively refuted by the Coptic Manichaean songs (or psalms) of
Thomas, discovered in Egypt and dated to the fourth century CE (see "The
Coptic Manichaean Songbook" in Part Five). The songs of Thomas are close
adaptations of Mandaean liturgical texts and suggest that Thomas (a student
of Mani) was influenced by older Mandaean traditions while living in
Mesopotamia, before Mani sent him to Egypt to preach. At the same time, the

540. MANDAEAN LITERATURE 531
hypothesis that Mani was born into a Mandaean community has also been re­futed,
in this case, by the Cologne Mani Codex, which indicates that Mani was
raised among the Jewish-Christian sect of the Elkesaites (see the introduction
to Part Five).
In dating the origins and development of Mandaeism, scholars have em­ployed
a number of approaches. Although the earliest extant manuscripts are
late (from about the sixteenth century), bowls and lead amulets used for
magic are much earlier, with one such amulet dated to the second or third
century CE. Comparisons of the Mandaic alphabet with other scripts, such as
Nabataean and Elymaean, have also shed light on where and when the group
developed. Another criterion for dating is the presence of Arabic terms in
Mandaean texts (for example, the name Allah for the highest god), thereby
suggesting a post-Islamic context for particular textual recensions. Recently,
attention has been focused on the colophons appended to practically all of the
Mandaean scrolls. These colophons contain scribal genealogies, in some cases
dating back for centuries, as well as historically valuable information on geog­raphy,
politics, and relations within the community. The oldest of these ge­nealogies
may date back to 270 CE, making it one of the earliest extant sources
on the Mandaeans.
MYTHOLOGY
Mandaeism possesses an incredibly rich mythology, which—to borrow a
gnostic phrase—provides knowledge of "whence we have come and whither
we are going." Perhaps even more than their gnostic relatives, the Mandaeans
employ myth as the chief vehicle for articulating and transmitting their
worldview and ritual practices. Therefore, in order to understand Mandaean
theology, cosmology, anthropology, and ritual we must turn to myths. Like the
rabbinic midrash they frequently resemble, these are typically nonsystematic
in their presentation. While this does not diminish the myths' profundity or
cultural significance, it nevertheless presents an interpretive challenge to the
uninitiated. Additional features of many Mandaean mythological texts are the
highly original geometrical illustrations that accompany them.
Mandaean mythology evinces a dualistic worldview in which the world of
light (alma dnhura) opposes the world of darkness (alma dshuka) from the
beginning. As in other gnostic mythologies, a theogonic process of emanation
precedes a cosmogonic fall or rupture. The first god, known by a number of
names including the "great life" (hiia raba) and "lord of greatness" (mara

541. 532 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
drabuta), emanates the second life, third life, and fourth life, who are also
known by the names Yoshamin, Abathur, and Ptahil, respectively. Along with
a host of lesser light beings, they occupy a realm (frequently called the "house
of life") of heavenly waters or "Jordans." The light beings {'utria or uthras)
who inhabit this realm of fullness are depicted as celestial priests whose ritu­als
serve as the model for those performed by the Mandaean priests in the
earthly "Jordans" of Mesopotamia.
Opposing this realm of light and water is the world of darkness, which
originally consists of the "black waters." According to one tradition, the "king
of darkness" (malka dhshuka) emerges from the waters in an act of self-production
and then proceeds to create a host of demons, liliths, vampires,
and other beasts. He himself is an androgyne with the head of a lion, the
body of a dragon, the wings of an eagle, the back of a tortoise, and the hands
and feet of a monster, a description that recalls some of the archons in the
Secret Book of John.
In a different Mandaean tradition, which parallels the gnostic Sophia
myth, a female figure named Ruha initially dwells in the world of light,
until she "falls" and gives birth to the lord of darkness (also known as Ur, a
dragon). Together they create a host of evil beings, including the seven plan­ets
and the twelve signs of the zodiac. Although Mandaeans condemn the
powers of the zodiac, they also employ elements of Babylonian astrological
magic in certain texts (for example, Sfar malwashia) and rites. As in Judaism,
therefore, official condemnation of magic exists side by side with the prolif­eration
of magical texts, amulets, and practices.
The creation of the physical world (tibil) also echoes the Sophia myth. In
this case, however, a male figure (the third life, also called Abathur and Bhaq
Ziwa) gazes into the black waters and declares, "I shall call forth a world." He
then orders the demiurge Ptahil, called Gabriel in some sources, to create the
world. After fashioning the earth with the help of the evil powers, Ptahil cre­ates
the bodies of Adam and Eve, a process discussed above. As punishment
for the creation of the world, both Ptahil and Abathur are exiled from the
world of light. Ptahil is put in stocks and Abathur is enthroned at the entrance
of the world of light, where he weighs the souls and decides which ones are
worthy to enter.
Complicating this picture is the fact that each of the fallen light beings, as
well as the earth itself, possesses an ideal image or dmuta in the world of light.
This fascinating and sophisticated ontological category prevents Mandaean
dualism from becoming a static system of polar opposites. Instead, figures

542. MANDAEAN LITERATURE 533
such as Abathur and Ruha continue to have a mirror image in the world of
light, even after they have fallen from grace. Because of this dual quality, they
are able to function as mediators and, as we will see shortly, always possess the
potential for redemption.
Much of Mandaean literature is devoted to the ongoing struggle between
the forces of light and darkness. These mytho-historical narratives fre­quently
incorporate stories from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.
More often than not, however, biblical episodes are turned on their head
(thus Moses is a prophet of the evil god Adonai; Jesus is a false messiah and
liar). Only the Mandaeans know the true nature of the world, and they alone
are capable of escaping or, to put it more accurately, returning to the world
of light.
Mandaean soteriology focuses on individual and collective salvation (in
Mandaic, purqana) alike. Every Mandaean possesses a soul (nishimta or
mana) from the world of light, as well as a spirit {ruha). At the time of death,
the soul ascends through seven or eight "watchhouses" (mattarta) until it ar­rives
at the throne of Abathur, who weighs the soul in his scales. If found wor­thy,
the soul is joined with the spirit and helped across the celestial waters
(hafiqia mia) by a messenger of light, and is thus returned to the house of life,
where it receives a garment and a wreath. If found unworthy, the soul is rele­gated
to a watchhouse or purgatory appropriate to its sin. For example, Jesus
the "magician" occupies a watchhouse with other men and women who prac­ticed
celibacy, while a different watchhouse contains individuals who fasted
and practiced self-mortification. On the final "day of judgment" (yoma rba
ddina), the imprisoned souls will be cast into the fiery "sea of the end" {yama
dsuf). Meanwhile, the fallen light beings, including Yoshamin, Abathur,
Ptahil, and the female figure Ruha (like her counterpart, the spirit, ruha), will
be rehabilitated and reintegrated into the world of light.
RITUAL AND ETHICS
Although there are many Mandaean rituals, the two most important are bap­tism
(masbuta) and the mass for the dead (masiqta), of which several types
exist. Baptism occurs every Sunday and can be performed only in an earthly
Jordan or "living water" (a river, stream, or pool that contains flowing .water).
It represents a reenactment of Adam's baptism at the hands of the heavenly
figure Hibil (Abel) and mirrors the baptisms performed by the celestial priests
in the world of light. The ritual involves multiple immersions, blessings, and

543. 534 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
liturgical recitations, concluding with a handclasp (kushta) between the
layperson and the priest. Preparations for the masiqta, as well as the rite itself,
are highly complex and cannot be described in detail here. The ceremony
occurs in a cult hut (mandi) built near a river or stream. Important elements
include the priestly recitation of hymns, the sacrifice of a dove (which sym­bolizes
the spirit), and the ritual preparation of small unleavened loaves called
fatiria, as well as other foodstuffs. The purpose of the masiqta is to unite soul
and spirit and help them enter the world of light.
There are three classes of Mandaean priests, the tarmide ("disciples" or
"students"), the more lofty ganzibre ("treasurers"), and the rish ama ("head of
the people"). Members of the priesthood are called Nasoreans, a name that
once applied to all Mandaeans. Priests wear white garments mirroring those
worn by beings in the world of light. Today all priests are male, but there is
evidence of female priests in the past. Mandaean priests must be physically
and ritually pure. They cannot be eunuchs or circumcised, must be married,
and must avoid pollution through contact with improperly slaughtered meat,
stagnant water, or menstruating women. The Mandaean valorization of mar­riage
and procreation contrasts sharply with certain western gnostic sources,
which portray sexual intercourse as a curse of the demiurge. In Mandaean
mythology, sexual desire and pregnancy are given to humankind by the savior
figure Hibil (Abel). While priests are held to a higher standard of ritual purity,
all Mandaeans are expected to adhere to a rigorous ethical standard, which en­courages
the giving of alms (zidqa) and condemns the use of weapons.
RECENT HISTORY AND TODAY
In the aftermath of the Muslim conquest, Mandaeans were identified with
the Sabians, a "people of the book" {'ahl al-kitab) mentioned three times
in the Qur'an. Beginning in the ninth century, however, a pagan group in
Mesopotamia known as the Harranians adopted the title Sabians in an effort
to gain protection under Islamic law. From this point on, Muslim authorities
frequently conflated the Mandaeans with the "Sabians of Harran" and con­demned
them as star worshipers. Over the centuries this identification has
led to periodic persecutions of the Mandaeans. In response, the Mandaeans
have vehemently denied the charges of idolatry and defended their status as a
protected people.
At present, the status of the Mandaeans in Iraq and Iran is not entirely
clear. The long conflict between the two countries, the Gulf War, the Iraq War

544. MANDAEAN LITERATURE 535
of 2003, and other tumultuous events in the region have had a major impact
on the environment and peoples of southern Iraq and Iran, including the
Mandaeans. At a recent gathering of Mandaeans and scholars at Harvard
University, leaders of the Mandaean community in Iran estimated the popu­lation
of Mandaeans in Iraq as seventy-five thousand and in Iran as thirty-five
thousand. The Mandaeans of Iran maintain schools where children learn
Mandaic, and the number of Mandaic speakers appears to be greater there
than in Iraq, although any precise comparison is currently impossible.
Turmoil in the Persian Gulf region has created a growing Mandaean dias­pora.
According to recent statistics, there are approximately seventy Man­daean
families in the New York City area, including New Jersey, and others in
Florida, Michigan, and California. There is also a large community of Man­daeans
in Australia, while smaller groups and individuals may be found in
Glasgow, Scotland; Odessa, Ukraine; and other cities. Increasingly, Man­daeans
encounter the challenges of assimilation, modern technology, and a
radically different physical environment.
Mandaeans around the world maintain contact with one another and with
their home communities in the Middle East. They are led by a priesthood still
recovering from a devastating cholera epidemic in 1831, which killed all of the
adult priests but spared a handful of their sons. In recent years, priests from
Iran have traveled to Australia and the United States to perform baptisms,
weddings, and other rituals. As the Mandaeans enter the twenty-first century,
they face the future strengthened by a long history of tenacious survival and
cultural creativity.

545. 35
The Ginza
1 he most significant holy book of the Mandaeans is the Ginza. The
• Ginza, whose title means "treasure," is also known as the "great
JL. book." It is divided into two parts, the right Ginza and the left
Ginza, the former containing mythological and theological materials, the lat­ter
songs for the rituals for the dead.
In the selections from the Ginza presented here, the Mandaean vision of
the world of light and the world of darkness is portrayed with beautiful and
powerful images. In the beginning was "a sole enormous fruit" (the pleroma),
and from the fruit came the world of light and life. Also in the beginning were
the black waters, and from the waters came the world of darkness, with Ruha,
"false wisdom," and her entire entourage. Ptahil the demiurge and the planets
create Adam: "They made Adam and laid him on the ground, but he had no
soul." With the intervention of Mana, the exalted heavenly spirit, Adam is
given a soul, "is clothed in the radiance of life and stands firm on his feet." The
savior Manda dHayye, the knowledge of life, declares his role as messenger of
light, that Adam—and people of knowledge—may be saved. In contrast to a
Christian gospel like the Gospel of John, here it is John the baptizer who as­sists
the light, not the sorcerer Jesus. In the end the souls that strive for the
light come to the light.

546. MANDAEAN LITERATURE 537
THE GINZA1
THE WORLD BEYOND
Before all the worlds came into being
there was a sole enormous fruit,
and when the enormous fruit entered a fruit,
the great and glistening king of light began.
An ether of radiance existed.
From the ether of radiance came the living fire.
From the living fire
there was a light.
By the power of the king of light
came the great fruit and life.
The great fruit came alive
and in it rolled the Jordan, which is also a garden.
The great Jordan came alive,
and the living water was in it.
Luminous water came alive from the living water.
I, life, came alive
and all the uthras—the light beings—found space.
ORIGIN OF THE WORLDS OF LIGHT
When the fruit was in the fruit, when the ether was in the ether,
when the great and glorious Mana2
was there3 from whom powerful manas4 came,
whose radiance is enormous and light is great,
no one was before them in the fruit abundant and without end,
whose radiance is too abundant for the words of the mouth,
i. The Ginza: translated by J. F. Hendry, in Robert Haardt, Gnosis: Character and Testimony
(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1971), pp. 360-371,379,388-390; revised in verse by Willis Barnstone.
Reprinted by permission of Brill Academic Publishers.
2. Heavenly spirit.
3. In the pleroma.
4. Spirits.

547. 538 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
and whose light, which was in that fruit, too great for telling
with the lips.
From the fruit came a thousand thousand fruits without end
and a myriad myriad of beings of light, the shkinas,5 beyond count.
In each fruit were a thousand thousand beings of light.
They stand and praise the great and glorious Mana,
who lives in the great ether,
within the Jordans6 of white water made by the Mana,
whose aroma is fragrant
and inhaled on all the roots of light
and on the great first radiance.
The long Jordan was made to go on uncounted and endlessly.
Plants grow next to it. They are happy.
They praise and stand in perfection,
and from the great Jordan came uncounted Jordans endlessly.7
THE WORLD OF DARKNESS
I saw the rebels and Hewath the serpent woman.8
When I was standing in the house of life, I saw the rebels.
I saw their gates of darkness.
I saw their destruction and the lords of the gloomy house.
I saw their fighters buried in darkness.
I saw the gates of fire and their burning glow,
how the wicked burn and glow,
deliberately imperfect and in error.
I saw Hewath the woman,
how she speaks in darkness and malice.
She speaks in malice and is expert in witchcraft and sorcery.
She talks with illusory wisdom on her throne of lies.9
I saw the gate of darkness
5. Heavenly realms, aeons; similar to the Hebrew shekhinah.
6. Baptismal water.
7. The earthly baptismal water comes from the heavenly baptismal water.
8. Nickname for Ruha.
9. Ruha is, after all, false wisdom.

548. MANDAEAN LITERATURE 539
and the arteries10 of the earth, Siniawis the underworld,
just as it is.
I saw the black water that rose up, boiled, and bubbled.
Whoever enters dies, and whoever sees it is scorched.
I saw the dragons
who were hurled there and writhe on the ground.
I saw the wicked rebels sitting in their chariots.
I saw the wicked of every type and species.
I saw a chaos of chariots of darkness.
I saw the wicked rebels arrayed in weapons of evil.
With weapons of evil they conspire against the place of light.
WHERE IS THE DARKNESS FROM?
Who are these hideous creatures?
Where is the darkness from?
Who are the inhabitants sitting there?
How were their actions born,
which are hideous and fearful?
And their enormous flaws?
Their frightening ugliness?
They are disfigured and deformed.
WHERE ARE THE MONSTERS FROM?
Where are the mighty and evil monsters from
who live in fire?
And the black waters seething and boiling?
Enter and you die, see it and you burn.
Where are the dragons from,
cast and contorted on the ground?
And their chariots, and the wicked sitting there,
and Hewath the serpent woman?
10. Rivers.

549. 540 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
LIFE QUESTIONED
Life, since you went there, how did darkness get there?
How did darkness get there?
How were imperfection and flaws born?
ORIGINS OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS
There is no boundary for light.
It was unknown when it began.
Nothing was when light was not.
Nothing was when radiance was not.
Nothing was when life was not.
There was never a boundary for light.
Nothing was when water was not.
WATER IS PRIOR TO DARKNESS
Water is prior to darkness.
Prior to darkness is water.
Nothing is without an end.11
No number is before the uthras were.
Light beings are prior to darkness.
Prior to darkness are uthras
and older than their inhabitants.
Goodness is prior to the malice
of the place of darkness.
Gentleness is prior to the bitterness
of the place of darkness.
Living fire is prior to the consuming fires
of the place of darkness.
Praise is prior to the practice
of sorcery and witchcraft.
Hymns and books are prior to the sorcery
of Hewath, the terrible woman.
ii. According to Kurt Rudolph, this is a Mandaean proverb (Foerster, Gnosis, vol. 2, p. 165).

550. MANDAEAN LITERATURE 541
DARKNESS
Water doesn't mix with tar,
and darkness can't be measured by light.
Darkness can't be measured by light.
The house of gloom isn't lighted.
The house of gloom isn't lighted, and turbid waters
have no sparkle.
Darkness grew and creatures formed.
Darkness formed, and when it formed it tested its force.
It harbored malice in its mind.
It imprisoned its own kanna, the place of the soul.
It imprisoned its own kanna,
and everything it did was nothing.
The children of darkness are nothing,
but the children of life stay.
The house of evil is nothing,
and its consuming fires die.
Its sorcery dies and ends, since it has no place
in eternity.
It comes to nothing.
The generations of life stay forever.
The living instruction rises and illuminates
a perishable living place.
THE ARCHDEMON RUHA
The mind of Ruha dQudsha12 is evil. She lies.
She is a sorcerer.
The mind of Ruha, the liar, is sorcery.
She is all sorcery, witchcraft, and fake wisdom.
Hewath the woman, who is Ruha, sits with her stone amulets
and tears clumps of hair from her head.
She is sitting, engaged in false magic,
12. Spirit of false wisdom, here the "holy" spirit, who is quite unholy.

551. 542 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
along with her women spirits. They all practice false magic,
possessed, evil, and ensnared.
She concocts a commotion of false magic.
Her mind is confused.
Who were her imperfect and disfigured instructors
who taught her lies?
Who is this woman, mother of the base monster?13
PTAHIL, ANGEL OF LIGHT
When I, Ptahil,14 was shaped and came to be, I issued
from a source of huge radiance.
When my father15 decided to call me out, he called me
out of the huge radiance.
He dressed me in a radiant robe and wrapped me
in a covering of light.
He gave me a major crown in his whose luminosity
the worlds glisten,
and he said to me, "Son, go to the Tibil earth16
and make the black waters solid.
Solidify the Tibil earth and inscribe Jordan rivers
and canals upon its face."
PTAHIL MAKES EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS
With my first cry I solidified the earth from the waters
and stretched the firmament into perfection.
With my second cry I inscribed Jordan rivers and canals
all over its face.
With my third cry I called into being fishes in the sea
and feathered birds of every shape and species.
13. She is mother of the monstrous lord of darkness, as Sophia is the mother of Yaldabaoth in
gnostic sources.
14. The demiurge.
15. Abathur, the divine judge.
16. Tibil is the physical world.

552. MANDAEAN LITERATURE 543
With my fourth cry I made every plant and its seeds,
and each one was distinct from another.
With my fifth cry sinister reptiles came into being.
With my sixth cry there came a full structure of darkness.
With my seventh cry I made Ruha
and her seven sons, who are the planets.17
Ruha the mother of evil and her seven sons came into being
and appeared before me.
When I saw them, my heart fell out of my body.
CREATING ADAM
After the angel Ptahil came he said to the planets, "Let us create Adam and
make him king of the world." The planets conferred. They agreed to tell him
that they wanted to create Adam and Eve. After all, he belongs to them.
"Yes," the planets said, "we will make Adam and Eve the head of the human
family."
After they said what they were planning to do, Ptahil was profoundly
shaken. He thought, "If I myself create Adam and Eve the head of the whole
family, what will Adam's role be in the world?"
Then Ptahil Uthra18 spoke to the planets, asking them. "Whom can we
trust? What is our authority in the world?" And he said to them, "Planets, you
will be his guardians and serve him in all ways."
They made Adam and laid him on the ground,
but he had no soul.
When they made Adam they couldn't cast a soul into him.
They called on the wind of the ether to hollow out his bones.
To hollow out his bones and let marrow form in them,
to let marrow form,
to make him strong and stand firm on his feet.
They called on the splendor of the living fire
to make his robe luminous.
17. On false wisdom and the planets see the cosmogony presented in the Secret Book of John
and other gnostic texts.
18. Ptahil, the demiurge, is also a light being (uthra).

553. 544 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
To make his robe luminous,
to make him strong and stand firm on his feet.
They called on the mists over the brook
and smoke of the ravenous fire
to flow into his torso so he could clench his fist
and spread his arms
and yell and shake himself awake,
to make him strong and stand firm on his feet.
Then the planets spoke, turning to Ptahil,
"Allow us to cast spirit into him,
which you took with you from your father's house."
All the planets urged him,
and the lords19 of the world urged him,
and though they tried,
they couldn't stand him upright on his feet.20
BRINGING SOUL TO ADAM
In his illuminated state Ptahil rose to the place of light.
He came before the father of light beings, who are
the uthras,
and his father asked him, "What have you done?"
He answered, "Once I worked well, but your image
and mine have failed."
Then the father of light beings got up and hurried
to a secret place.
He found the great Mana, the hidden Adam,21 and urged him to
light the corruptible, to light every varying coat of the body.2
Then the father wrapped him in his clean turban
and evoked the name that life gave him.
He seized him at the ends of his turban
and carried him here.
19. Lord or lords.
20. As in other gnostic texts, at first Adam cannot stand up.
21. Adakas.
22. "Coat" probably refers to the flesh of people.

554. MANDAEAN LITERATURE 545
He gave him to his son, Ptahil. When he gave him
to the light being Ptahil,
life summoned his helpers.
He summoned the light beings Hibil, Sitil, and Anosh,23
who are astonishing and immaculate.
He called them, ordered them, and warned them
about their souls.
He told them, "Guard them and let no one know."
Don't let evil Ptahil learn how soul falls into body,
how soul falls into body
and the blood speaks in it as the radiance fills him.24
How the blood speaks in it and how the vein channels
permeate it.
Let the carrier of Adakas Mana, the hidden Adam,25
be his soul's26 protector.
When Adam is clothed in the radiance of life
and stands firm on his feet,
when he speaks with a clean mouth,
you, Adakas, restore him to his place and protect him
against enemies.
PTAHIL AND MANDA DHAYYE WORK ON ADAM
Ptahil wrapped Adam in his clean turban.
He wrapped him in his robe.
The light being quickly descended, and his helpers
all went down with him.
His helpers who went down are men in charge of souls.
When they reached the Tibil,27 which is the world
and where his bodily torso is,
when Ptahil wanted to cast soul into his body,
I, Manda dHayye, removed the soul from his pocket.
23. Heavenly Abel, Seth, Enosh.
24. Conjectural reading.
25. Adakas is Adam Kasya, hidden Adam.
26. "Soul" is uncertain here. "His" may refer back to Adakas Mana.
27. Physical world.

555. 546 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
When Ptahil lifted Adam up, I raised his bones.
When he laid his hands on him, I made him breathe
the fragrance of life.
His body filled with marrow,
and the radiance of life spoke in him.
When the radiance of life spoke in him,
he opened the eyes of his bodily torso.
When the radiance of life spoke in him,
Adakas Ziwa, the radiant Adam, rose to his place.28
MANDA DHAYYE, MESSENGER OF LIGHT
I led Adam up to his place.
I led Adam up to his place, the house of powerful life,
the house where the great life is on his throne.
I handed him over to the guardians of the treasure,
the light beings who take care of the Jordans.29
Life thanked the light beings who brought the soul.
The great summoned me and commanded me, saying,
"Go down and shout a sublime call!
Shout sublimely so the wicked learn nothing of the soul!"
I came and found the wicked, all of them sitting there,
and while they were sitting there
I spread witchcraft and magic around the soul,
and the wicked wanted to chop the soul into tiny parts.
I saw them and I shone in my pure garments.
Before the world I glowed in a huge radiance
given me by my father.
I appeared to Ptahil Uthra, who howled and wept.
He howled and wept over what he had done.
I appeared to Ruha, the seductive mother of planets
and evil creatures,
who seduces the worlds.
28. Adakas is hidden Adam and Ziwa is radiance, hence "radiant Adam."
29. Heavenly baptismal water.

556. MANDAEAN LITERATURE 547
I showed her the great mystery that subdues rebels.
I showed her the great mystery, but she was blind
and didn't see it.
I showed her a second mystery.
Then I threw a camel bridle on her and showed her
a third mystery
and with a blow I split her head open.
WHEN THEY SAW ME THEY TREMBLED
When they saw me they trembled and called out,
saying they were guilty.
The seven called out, saying they were guilty.
They called out, saying they were guilty,
and fell headlong and landed on their faces.
They fell headlong and landed on their faces,
putting their hands before their faces,
and they cried, "Master. We were in error and sin.
Forgive our sins."
But when the wicked spoke I cut through their phalanx.
I made them swear by the great mystery
not to wrong the soul.
I hid before their seven souls.
I stopped and took on a body. I took on a body
and thought I would not terrorize the soul,
and in her garment she would not know terror.
I took on a body for her
and sat near her in splendor.
I spread radiance of the great Mana over her.
From that light, Adam was planted.
I sat by him and taught him what life had stored in me.
I sang to him sublimely,
more sublimely and luminous than the worlds.
I sang to him in a soft voice
and raised his heart from sleep.
I spoke to him in the speech of the light beings
and taught him out of my wisdom.
I taught him out of my wisdom. I told him to rise

557. 548 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
and pray on his knees and praise the mighty.
He should praise the high place where the good sit.
He should praise Adakas Ziwa, the radiant Adam,
the father from whom he came.
ADAM SAVED
As I sat and instructed him, he bowed down and praised
the mighty. He praised his father, Adakas Ziwa,
the Mana by whom he was planted.
When he bowed down and praised his father the light being,
the father came to him from his secret place.
When he saw his father he overflowed with holy songs.
He sang in a loud voice and overturned the planets.
He overturned the planets
and overturned the lord of the world.
He disowned the sons of this world's house,
and everything
they had done.
He witnessed the name of life
and the light being who let him hear his voice.
He disowned the works of the Tibil
and raised his eyes to the place of light.
THE LIGHT BEING OF LIFE REWARDS ADAM
For what he had done the light being of life was kind,
the father of light was full of kindness to him
and commanded a building be erected for him.
He commanded a building be erected for him
and commanded a planting be planted for him.
He commanded a Jordan river be prepared for him
so at the ripe instant when his measure was full,
he would ascend and inhabit his building and inhabit
the place of light
with Adakas Ziwa his father,
and become a light being in the place of light.

558. MANDAEAN LITERATURE 549
JOHN THE BAPTIZERAND JESUS THE SORCERER
For nine months Nbu Christ30 is in the womb of his mother,31 the virgin, and
he is hidden there. Then he came out of her body, along with blood and men­strual
discharge, and grew up at her breasts and sucked her milk. When he was
grown, he entered the temple of the Jews and became perfect in all wisdom.
He perverts the Torah and alters its doctrine and all its work. He leads some of
the descendants of the Jews into error and turns them into god fearers and
shows them magical forms, which they believe in. He clothes them in colored
tunic, tonsures their heads, and veils them like darkness.32 And on Sunday33
they keep their hands from work. He tells them,
I am the true god. I have been sent here from my father.
I am the first messenger and I am the last.
I am the father, I am the son, I am the holy spirit.
I came out of the city of Nazareth.
He demeans himself humbly, goes to Jerusalem, and there captivates some
Jews through sorcery and deceit, showing them great deeds and magical
forms. Some devils who are with him he inserts in a dead body, and they speak
in the dead body. He cries to the Jews and tells them,
Come and see, I am he who wakes the dead,
performs resurrections and deliverances.
I am Anosh34 the Nazorean.
Then Ruha35 screams in Jerusalem and testifies against him. He snares
people by sorcery and befouls them with blood and menstrual discharge. He
baptizes them in blocked waters36 and perverts the living baptism and baptizes
them in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit. He alienates
30. Nbu is the planet Mercury (Roman counterpart of the Greek Hermes).
31. This is actually Ruha, the spirit of false wisdom.
32. That is, the followers of Jesus become monks and priests.
33. Habshaba, the Mandaean holy day, Sunday.
34. Heavenly Enosh.
35. The spirit of false wisdom.
36. That is, not living or flowing waters, as in Mandaean baptism.

559. 550 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
them from the living baptism in the Jordan of living waters, with which you,
Adam, were baptized.
Also in that generation a child was born, who was called by the name of
John,37 the son of the venerable Zachariah, who was born to him in his old age
at the end of one hundred years. His mother, the woman Elizabeth, became
pregnant with him. She gave birth to him in her old age. When John grows up
in that generation of Jerusalem, faith will find a place in his heart and he will
receive the Jordan and carry out baptisms for forty-two years, before Nbu,
who is Hermes Christ, dresses in a body and enters the world. When John is in
Jerusalem, Jesus Christ arrives, moves about in humility, is baptized with the
baptism of John, and becomes wise through John's wisdom. Then Jesus pro­ceeds
to pervert the word of John and change the Jordan baptism, altering the
words of truth,38 and summoning wickedness and lies into the world.
MANDA DHAYYE BRINGS T R I U M P H T O J O HN
On the day that John's measure is full, Hibil Manda dHayye39 comes to him.
But I appear to John as a small boy, three years and a day old, and I converse
with him about baptism and I instruct his friends. Then I take him out of his
body and cause him to rise up in triumph to the world that is filled with radi­ance,
and I baptize him in the white Jordan of living and brilliant waters,40
clothe him in garments of radiance, and cover him in turbans of light and
place praise in his pure heart from the praise of the angels of light.
THE L I G H T BEING A N O S H UNMASKS JESUS
After John, the world will go on in lies and Christ the Roman41 will split the
peoples; the twelve seducers42 wander the world. For thirty years the Roman
appears in the world. . . . And when the great one chooses, the light being
Anosh comes. He will expose the lies of Jesus the liar, who makes himself equal
to the angels of light. He will accuse Christ the Roman, the liar, the son of a
37. John the baptizer.
38. Truth is kushta, which is ritualized through a handshake.
39. Hibil is heavenly Abel; Manda dHayye is knowledge of life as heavenly messenger.
40. Heavenly baptism.
41. A reference to the Roman or Byzantine context of the Christian church.
42. The twelve messengers or apostles, linked to the twelve signs of the zodiac.

560. MANDAEAN LITERATURE 551
woman, who did not come from the light, that he is one of the seven seducing
planets who roam the world,43 and that he is wandering among the celestial
spheres. He will unmask Christ the Roman as a liar, he will be bound by the
hands of the Jews, his devotees will bind him, he will be fastened to a cross, and
his body will be slain. His devotees will divide him up into many pieces.44 He
will be bound on the hill of Mara.45 When the sun rises, it unleashes its heat
against him, because he cast error and persecution into the world.
Soul Songs
THE SOUL'S QUESTIONS
The soul, the soul has words:
Who cast me into the Tibil?
Who cast me into the Tibil?
Who chained me to the wall?
Who roped me in the stocks
equal to the fullness of world?
Who threw a chain around me
that is unmeasured on earth?
Who clothed my soul in a coat
of every fabric and color?
ADAM ENVELOPED IN SLEEP
I am enveloped in sleep
in a robe without error.
In a robe without error
in which nothing lacks.
Life knew about me:
Adam asleep. I woke.
The soul took my hand.
Light hurled me into darkness,
43. Mercury.
44. This may refer to relics of Christ or the elements of the eucharist.
45. Mount Moriah? "Lord" (from Syriac)?

561. 552 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
darkness filled with light.
On the day the light rises
darkness will go to its cave.
She came to clouds of light,
going to the place of light.
MY SOUL YEARNED FOR LIFE
The soul in me yearned for life.
Knowledge blossomed in my eyes.
The soul in me yearned for life.
I floated and wandered up
till I reached the first planet.
Her slaves came to meet me.
"Seize him, seize that man.
He will keep us company.
Seize him, seize that man,
and ask where he is from."
"Friend, where are you from
and where are you going?"
"I come from earth, the Tibil,
the house the planets built.
The soul in me yearned for life
and aimed for the place of life."
"This is the house of life.
This is the way!
Where are you going?"
When you go among enemies
they will perform anything
imaginable against you.
"That is not what I desire
and not what my soul wants."
The soul in me yearned for life.
Knowledge blossomed in my eyes.
The soul in me yearned for life.
I floated and wandered up
till I reached the second planet,

562. MANDAEAN LITERATURE
and the third and the fourth.
When you go among them,
they will shout the name of death,
and chain and torment you.
I floated and wandered up
the fifth, sixth, and seventh planets
till I reach the house of life.
When I reach the house of life,
life came out to meet me.
Life came out to meet me
and dressed me in radiance
and covered me with light.
He counted me, gave me
his number. The good
came out of his midst.
Among the lamps of light
your lamps will float and shine.
THE SAVIOR TALKS TO THE SOUL
Soul, if you hear what I say
and do not oppose my word,
for you I will throw a bridge
over the great sea.
For you I will lay a dam
and guide you to the watchtower
where the rebels hold out.
I will guide you past the fire
and smoke touching the sky.
I will take you past the double pits
where Ruha has dug her way.
And over that high mountain
I will smooth the path for you.
In this wall, this wall of iron,
I will hack a breach for you,
hug you with all my strength,
and take you to the place of light.

563. 554 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
LOVING LIFE, PERFORMING GOOD DEEDS
Loving life, I let Manda dHayye,
the messenger of light,
calm my innermost thought.
Late Saturday evening
and before the good Sunday,
I stuffed alms in my pocket
and went to the temple gate.
I piled alms and bread
on the common plate.
I found an orphan. I fed him.
I found a widow. I filled her pocket.
I found a naked man
and gave him a garment
for his nakedness.
I found a prisoner and found a way
to free him to his village.

564. 36
Hibil's Lament from
the Book of John
f • i
I he gnostic text called Hibil's Lament is from the Mandaean Book
I of John. The Book of John, also referred to as the "book of the
_JL_. kings" (meaning the angels), contains discourses of John the bap-tizer,
who occupies a significant place within Mandaean thought.
In Hibil's Lament the main character is Hibil Ziwa, a heavenly figure who
has come down to earth to instruct, punish, and save. His initial failures and
dejection dominate the book as he reports to the major Mandaean savior fig­ure,
Manda dHayye ("knowledge of life"). The scene is established in the
opening words, "I am happy, very happy, though I am hurt in the house of
the wicked." In his plaintive discourse, Hibil emphasizes the gnostic struggle
of light over darkness and asks how many adulterers and thieves—as well as
those poor beings who live in darkness and temptation and fail to find the
way to knowledge and light—he will have to send into darkness. He tells us
that he made darkness and light, and that he chose Abathur as the high judge
to stand at the dread toll stations where he determines what souls are worthy
to enter the house of light. By those stations—and there are a stream of them,
we learn in other texts—are pots bubbling with liquids to cook the souls of
the wicked.
Hibil's Lament describes a Job-like litany of suffering that affects both the
punisher and the punished. As Job questions the afflictions cast on him by god,
so does Hibil question Manda dHayye's stern mandates. Hibil both condemns

565. 556 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
and feels compassion for those whom he must send on to the toll keepers to
weigh and destroy: of the frightened and eager souls who reach the toll sta­tions,
only one or two among ten thousand will rise to the house of light. Hibil
is weary of his duty to punish multitudes of unredeemables. Rather than
harm, he would save. "When will they give up killing?" he asks. "When will
combat fade, and my heart heal?"
By the tract's end, Hibil is pleased with his report to Manda dHayye, and
his speech rises in poetic transport before those virtuous humans to whom he
offers ascension to and communion with the father of light. As for the rest, he
states, "There is no rising for those who fall, and the mountain of darkness
swallows them."
HIBIL'S LAMENT FROM
THE BOOK OF JOHN1
How long must I sink between worlds?
In the name of a better life, may light be everywhere.
I am happy, very happy, though I am hurt in the house
of the wicked.
In my heart I will be pleased by the works
I have created in this world.
How much longer must I sink between worlds?
How long should I pour light into the world?
How long shall I raise treasure to the house of the leaders?
I will be happy! My soul looks to the father.
I will be pleased by working with the poor and the young.
I will quiet my heart and be calm.
How long must I nourish powerful light world messengers
and the leaders' rhetoric?
How long should I combat demons and murder rebels?
i. Hibil's Lament from the Book of John: translated by Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley ("Professional
Fatigue: 'Hibil's Lament' in the Mandaean Book of John," Le Museon no, nos. 3-4 [1997], pp.
367-81); revised in verse by Willis Barnstone.

566. MANDAEAN LITERATURE
Will one of you release me from Abathur the high judge?
How long must I walk with weights on my neck?
How long will I tramp on Sunday, our holy day,
and expel it from existence?
When will I bring authority to the tollhouses?2
How long must I tame stallions and harness them?
How long must I plow and disperse seed around the world?
How long sow, reap, and give away the perishable?
How long must I counter wicked fools, hurl them into pots
and cook them?
How long must the scale weigh and Abathur judge us?
How long must I batter Shamish the sun and condemn
his earthly appearance
and berate him in favor of the select good ones in this world?
How long must I attack tollhouse guards and suffocate them
with Sin the moon?
Must I keep hurling him each month into pots of boiling liquids?
How long will the earth accept seed and fruit dropped across
horizons?
When will ships no longer sink and rise to the realm of light?
How long must I restrain the living water
and throw it into still water?
How long must the messengers of light claw through pollution
and wrongdoing?
How long can they stand it?
When will darkness end and light come?
When will I not waste pearls on transitory life?
How many will hang in my fishing nets,
and when can I cease dragging up the poor and the hurt?
How long will I punch mountains?
How long will I dress the perishable in darkness?
When will I stop hanging chains on earthly adulterers
and thieves?
2. Hibil sends people to the high judge at the toll houses or guard posts, where their souls will
be weighed and their fate determined.

567. 558 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
When will I stop waving my fists,
killing, stomping on the bad and the liars?
How soon will I give up disorienting them?
When will they give up killing?
When will combat fade, my heart heal?
When will Tibil's earthly world end, so I can conceal
my nets?
MANDA DHAYYE'S RESPONSE
After Hibil Ziwa spoke these words,
Manda dHayye responded, saying to him,
"When will you no longer stumble, Hibil Ziwa?
When will your pain in this world end?
And the works of the sick, when will you no longer
bear them on your neck?"
HIBIL ANSWERS
After Hibil Ziwa heard this, he sprang from his carpet,
stood, and opened his mouth to candor, uttering to Manda dHayye,
"I created Tibil, the earthly world. On whose neck is it now?
Those I created, what light carriers will have them?
After I made Adam and his wife, Eve, I formed
and condemned them and sent them into exile.
To them I was persecution.
I made the toll stations and chains for the Jews
and inside them placed everyday officials.
"I have smoothed a road from darkness to the dwelling place
of permanence.
I have appointed witnesses in the tollhouse of Abathur.
I made Abathur the judge of the world.
I placed him among scales
and gave him power over events on earth.
I made the river Ksas flowing between earth and the light world,
and by it I placed Abathur.

568. < MANDAEAN LITERATURE 559
I created white fruit into which souls are placed.
From it they shoot out to sit on the scales.
I created brooks of brisk water, like Jordan waters,
in which souls are baptized.
I made a way so that all souls float on the streams and rise.
I made a ship for the good,
a ferry for souls crossing to the house of Abathur.
Therein strength and permanence will enter them everlasting.
"I brought the holy day, Sunday, and placed it above the customs men,
and I said to them, 'Whoever brings this letter of passage
will reach you,
but who ventures without it you will hide.
All wrongdoers and liars will be interrogated in your tollhouse
until a letter of passage with all its contents
rises from Tibil, the earth, to life in its being.
When the letter and its contents ascend to life,
a letter from life will come.
When it reaches Abathur they will ascend.'
"I made works and death and life in the world.
Those with avid souls rise to light,
but the adulterers and thieves collapse in the dark.
Erotic Ruha3 is here to seduce the entire earth.
When I heard the blatant alarm, I warned against her.
"I made a rope of cable and planted a pole.
I told the Mandaean scholars to shimmy up the rope,
to hang from the rope;
to rise and see the precinct of light.
Whoever ignores the rope must climb the pole.
Whoever ignores both rope and pole falls
and will find no ascension.
There is no rising for those who fall,
and the mountain of darkness swallows them.
3. As the spirit of false wisdom, Ruha is both fallen and erotically compelling, like Sophia in
some gnostic texts.

569. 56o MANDAEAN LITERATURE
Whoever wishes a second death,
but who is dead to light,
his eye will see no light and his foot feel no firm earth.
"You have prevailed, Manda dHayye, as those who love your name.
Life wins."

570. 37
Songs from the
Mandaean Liturgy
• i
LHHI rom Mandaean liturgical texts, collected together under the rubric
I Mandaean Liturgies, come the lovely songs for the poor, the perse-
J L . cuted, and the soul given here. Particularly poignant is the song of
the poor man from the fruit (the pleroma), who is dragged from the dwelling
of the good to the world of the wicked, "where all is malice and fire." He suf­fers,
a stranger in this strange and terrible world, "like a fatherless child," until
a messenger from the realm of life and light arrives to deliver the poor man.
The messenger promises splendid clothing, an exalted seat, and freedom.
Thus, "Welcome to anyone life knows, and sorrow to whomever life ignores."
All of this is reminiscent of the Song of the Pearl, in Part Two of this volume.

571. 562 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
SONGS FROM THE
MANDAEAN LITURGY1
Song of the Poor Man
A POOR MAN TAKEN FAR
I am a poor man from the fruit.
They took me from far away. I am far.
I am a poor man whom life spoke to.
I am far. The light beings took me away.
They carried me here from the good
to where the wicked live.
They installed me in the world of the wicked
where all is malice and fire.
I didn't ask for it. I didn't want to come
to this awful place.
By my strength and light I suffer through
this misery. By illumination and praise.
I remain a stranger in their world.
I stand among the wicked like a child without a father.
Like a fatherless child, an untended fruit.
I hear the voice of the seven planets.
They whisper. They say among themselves,
"Where does this alien come from?
He doesn't speak like us."
I didn't listen to their speech raging against me.
THE KINDLY LIGHT BEING
Life heard my cry and sent an angel,
a kindly light being who was prepared for me.
i. Songs from the Mandaean Liturgy; translated by Kurt Rudolph, ("Mandaean Sources" in
Foerster, ed., Gnosis: A Selection of Gnostic Texts, vol. 2, pp. 121-319); revised in verse by Willis
Barnstone.

572. MANDAEAN LITERATURE
He told me in a pure voice
as light beings speak in the house of perfection.
He said, "Poor man, don't be alarmed or fearful.
Don't say, 'I am utterly alone.'
For you we spread the firmament above.
For you we spread the firmament above and made dry land.
We made dry land,
and solid land came and stood in the water.
For you the sun came,
for you the moon came into the firmament,
for you, poor one, the seven planets
and twelve creatures of the zodiac were set in orbit.
Radiance sits at your right hand
and glittering light on your left.
Be strong in your seed until you are fulfilled.
When you are fulfilled
I will come again.
I will bring you splendid clothing,
the envy of the world.
I will bring you a lovely shawl of light,
abundant and boundless.
I will deliver you from the wicked,
free you from the sinners.
You will sit in your own heavenly place.
I will free you in that pure place."
THE POOR MAN DELIVERED
I hear the voice of the seven planets,
who whisper to one another,
"Blessings on the father of the poor one:
he is the one who tends the fruit tree.
We have no father and no one to tend our tree."
Welcome to anyone life knows,
and sorrow to whomever life ignores.
Welcome to anyone life knows,
and who stays on earth free
from the world of imperfection

573. 564 MANDAEAN LITERATURE
where the planets live.
They sit on rebel thrones and work with a whip.
Gold and silver excite them,
and they cast war into the world.
They cast war into the world, and they will roast in fire.
The evil will roast in fire, their glory gone.
But my family and I will ascend and see
the place of light where the sun does not go down,
where lamps of light never dim,
the place, the house to which your souls
are called and invited in,
souls of our kin, of the good,
and of our believing brothers and sisters.
There life is extolled.
Advice for the Persecuted
You came from the house of life.
You came from the house of life,
you came. What did you bring us?
I came with you so you won't die,
so your souls won't be erased.
I brought life on the day of death,
happiness on the day of gloom.
I brought you rest. There disquiet
of the nations is not raging.
Good one, you came to the true
man carrying this? And only this?
I made him my treasurer.
I made him my treasurer